Coverage. An agent is entitled to compensatory time off as provided in this section for irregular overtime hours outside an agent's regular tour of duty, as specified in § 550.1623, except that such hours are excluded from coverage under this section (except paragraph (c) of this section) when required by the superseding provisions in § 550.1626. The compensatory time off provisions in 5 U.S.C. 5543 and 5 CFR 550.114 are not applicable to an agent.

Earning on an hour-for-hour basis for irregular overtime. Subject to the limitations specified in this section and the superseding provisions in § 550.1626, an agent must receive compensatory time off for an equal amount of time spent performing irregular overtime work.

Call-back overtime work. Notwithstanding paragraph (b) of this section, consistent with 5 U.S.C. 5542(b)(1) and § 550.112(h), an agent must be deemed to have performed 2 hours of irregular overtime work for a lesser amount of irregular overtime work if—

An agent is required perform such work on a day when the agent was not scheduled to work; or

An agent is required to return to the agent's place of employment to perform such work.

Earning limited by premium pay cap. An agent may not be credited with earning compensatory time off if the value of such time off would cause the sum of the agent's basic pay and premium pay in the given pay period to exceed the limitation established under 5 U.S.C. 5547 and §§ 550.105 and 550.107 in the period in which it was earned. The dollar value of compensatory time off for the purpose of this paragraph is the amount of overtime pay the agent would have received for the period during which compensatory time off was earned if the overtime had been regularly scheduled outside the agent's regular tour of duty.

Pay period limit. (1) An agent may not earn more than 10 hours of compensatory time off during any pay period unless—

CBP, as it determines appropriate, approves in writing a waiver of the 10-hour limit; and

Such waiver approval is executed in advance of the performance of any work for which compensatory time off is earned.

If a waiver of the 10-hour limit described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section is not granted, the agent involved may not be ordered to perform the associated overtime work.

Annual period limit. An agent may not earn more than 240 hours of compensatory time off during an annual period.

Usage. (1) An agent may use compensatory time off by being excused from duty during regular time (in an amount equal to the compensatory time off being used) during the agent's basic workweek.

An agent's balance of unused compensatory time off is used to satisfy an overtime hours debt, as provided in § 550.1626(c)(1).

Time limit for usage and forfeiture. An agent must use any hours of compensatory time off not later than the end of the 26th pay period after the pay period during which the compensatory time off was earned. Any compensatory time off not used within that time limit, or prior to separation from an agent position, is forfeited and not available for any purpose, regardless of the circumstances. An agent may not receive any cash value for unused compensatory time off. An agent may not receive credit towards the computation of the agent's retirement annuity for unused compensatory time off.