8:36 here. When furloughs start, government employees have been told that compressed schedules will be eliminated to make time and attendance easier. For that furlough timeframe everyone will be on 5 8hr days, with one of those days being furlough. They've also been told that the flex time in terms of what hours to work will remain in place, so some will still come in at 5am and others may choose to come in at 10am.

Contractor in a less visible part of the government. Agency doesn't have core hours so many gov't employees are at work at 5am to beat traffic and get good parking. Compressed schedules are common so about half of my government colleagues work 5am-3:30pm four days per week, since the 30min lunch is mandated.

My contract keeps hours pretty tightly controlled, so I work a straight 40hrs per week, usually 7:30-3:30 or 8-4 since childcare doesn't allow me to get up at 3am and come in at 5 (not that I'd want to). It's definitely a far cry from my days at more visible levels of government where I worked the 11+hrs day some people are referencing.

Anonymous wrote:Office is strict, sign in and sign out, all hours accounted for with work or leave.

Same here. I work 8.5 hours M-F, technically 30 min of that is unpaid lunch (but I usually end up eating at my desk). I stay late or work on weekends when needed. I'm not allowed to work from home during my regular work hours. It seems like the federal government talks a lot about flexiplace and flexible work schedules but in practice it doesn't happen.

This is making me sad. My wife works like a dog. Admittedly she is gs15, but her wage is much less than mine and she always ends up working much more than me - probably 50-60 hours a week when all is said and done. And for what? promotion prospects?- SES sounds like a worse deal than gs15....the pension is ok but not great -1% per year. And pay freezes as far as the eye cn see.
My plan isto try nod lure her into the private sector.

Official hours are 9-5:30, but I generally work 9-5 and eat lunch at my desk. I'm in a very flexible office -- as long as the work is getting done (we have litigation deadlines), then nobody really cares about the exact hours. Some people come in early and leave early, others come in late and leave late. I work in the evening a couple of nights per week for an hour or so, and bring work home on the weekends probably twice a month.

I am on Flexiplace so just need to get my 80 hours in for the pay period but I usually work 8-4:30. I really like the flexibility, though, to leave early for a school event or arrive late from a doctor's appointment and be able to make up the time later in the pay period by adjusting my hours.

I guess line of work has it good as far as fed's go. Am salary capped due to LEAP, have a take-home car, come and go as we want so long as work is done, AND due to sequestration, are required to work from home one day per week. Love the FED!!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are any of you finding that your offices are getting more strict due to the sequester?

If anything, professional employees who routinely work more than the nominal 8-5:30 day (which is what someone on a compressed work schedule works on a normal day) are now not violating the Anti-Deficiency Act by volunteering their services outside official work hours by answering email, approving travel & other documents, etc., from home on nights & weekends.

Maybe, but there are a lot of conditions on this. Does the employee have the option putting in a request for FEPA overtime or of requesting credit hours (even if the request is "frowned upon")? Does the agency accept appropriated funds? Has the employee entered into a gratuitous services agreement? etc. etc. etc.

Anonymous wrote:Are any of you finding that your offices are getting more strict due to the sequester?

If anything, professional employees who routinely work more than the nominal 8-5:30 day (which is what someone on a compressed work schedule works on a normal day) are now not violating the Anti-Deficiency Act by volunteering their services outside official work hours by answering email, approving travel & other documents, etc., from home on nights & weekends.

8 to 4:30, of which 30 minutes is unpaid lunch; I eat at my desk. I have coworkers who come in as early as 6:30 and as late as 9; many work a compressed schedule, though I do not. Clocking in is not strict -- if I arrive a little late, I work a little late that day -- but I have seen people let go after abusing that.

With regard to lunch, nearly every agency policy requires a 30-minute unpaid midday break, and OPM's examples of the different compressed schedules reflect that. If your agency doesn't require it -- or, as is more likely, your supervisor doesn't enforce it -- then good for you. I think they should require it, though, because I don't believe anybody here puts in a solid 8 hours straight without eating, peeing, chatting (even if unwillingly), getting up for a drink of water, etc. It's just like billing time in the private sector: you can't bill every minute (if you're honest) so you are in the building longer than your billables reflect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GS-12 here, started my Fed job last November. No one told me that it was illegal to work 8 hours straight & then go home, so that's what I've been doing. (My first week here, my supervisor told me she didn't care what hours I worked, as long as the work got done.) That said, it makes sense that it would be illegal, so I'll try to build in a lunch break this summer & after.

Some offices allow people to take their break at the end of the day, i.e., work 8 hours and leave. If your office doesn't mind, I wouldn't worry about it.

This is true. Our office doesn't allow it, you can only take your lunch break in the middle of the day and can't clock out sooner than 8.5 hours after you started and you can't come in later than 10am on flex time and can't leave earlier than 4pm.

Anonymous wrote:Please post a link saying it's illegal to work 8 hours straight with no lunch break. My husband has been doing it for 25 years.

It's not illegal not to take your lunch break.

Office is strict, sign in and sign out, all hours accounted for with work or leave.

I work 7:30am to 4pm, DH works 9:30-6pm to minimize time DD is in daycare.

Please post a link saying it's illegal to work 8 hours straight with no lunch break. My husband has been doing it for 25 years.

GS 13 Dept Veterans Affairs.

Worked till 8AM - 12AM last 2 days.

Nobody is watching when you come/go - they know we work hard and lots of hours.