Butler County now limits county workers from accumulating more than 40 hours of compensatory time.

The county commissioners on Wednesday adopted a new overtime policy that places a new cap on the amount of compensatory time accrued.

Under the previous policy, the maximum amount of compensatory time was 240 hours.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employees must be paid for any compensatory time exceeding 240 hours.

Chief county clerk Amy Wilson said in an interview the policy was reviewed this year after it was discovered some employees were exceeding the 240-hour maximum.

She said another issue was whether the compensatory time was validated.

“It was unclear they were getting the proper approval,” Wilson said.

The new policy specifically states the respective department or elected official must give prior approval for any overtime, which includes compensatory time.

For any employee in the commissioners’ office, that approval must come from a board majority.

Another policy change is all compensatory time will be recorded on employee time sheets.

The commissioners adopted the policy in a 2-to-1 vote. Commissioner Jim Eckstein dissented.

Eckstein said in an interview he opposed the new policy because there should be a higher limit for compensatory time.

“I wanted 80 hours instead of 40 hours to give department heads more flexibility,” he said.

Commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton supported the policy, preferring the 40-hour limit.

The policy also stressed employees classified as exempt are not entitled to overtime compensation.

However, Wilson said those employees are not prohibited from receiving overtime if approved by the commissioners, which has happened in the past.

A memo dated Feb. 13, 1992, sent to all elected officials and department heads state all employees must use their compensatory time by the end of the year with none permitted in future years.

But county solicitor Mike English said that policy was subsequently revised, so compensatory time was reinstituted.