My friend Barrie Gross, an employment and human resources expert in San Francisco, has written an article http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/23/BU78UJP1I.DTL for the San Francisco Chronicle that gives employers good guidance on the tricky subject of Compensatory Time Off (known as “Comp Time” or “CTO”). CTO is the practice of giving an employee time off in lieu of extra compensation or overtime pay. CTO is also a risky proposition. To summarize Barrie’s advice:

“If you are considering offering CTO to nonexempt employees, be sure to work closely with your human resources department or with legal counsel to review your specific situation.

Compliance is complicated, and you’ll be glad for the help.”

The Chronicle article is an excerpt from a larger article Barrie wrote and you can link here http://www.allbusiness.com/government/employment-regulations-overtime-pay/802-1.html to read the whole thing and as well as other articles she has written about many different HR related topics.