Task system employees.

Houston Code of Ordinances § 14-28

in effect

Sec. 14-28. - Task system employees. (a) Upon the request of the department director of the department in which they are employed, regular, full-time employees of the city may be designated by order of the commission as "task system employees." Requests to the commission for such designations shall be made by the department director who shall demonstrate to the commission each of the following: (1) The identity of classifications or positions of employment requested to be designated for task system employees. (2) That the work performed within those positions or classifications is not temporary in nature, that the work is of a kind which varies in a predictable manner by season or otherwise so that more work is required to be performed in some workweeks than in other workweeks, and that the annually adjusted regular workweek of the employees therein requires the actual performance of an average of 40 hours of work per week. (3) That the department director has developed a means of equitably assigning the employees involved so that each will be required to perform a specifically assigned task or tasks as his weeks' work, which task or tasks will, on an annually adjusted basis, require the actual performance of an average of 40 hours of work per week. (4) That it is impracticable to assign the employees involved to a regular and uniform 40-hour workweek. (b) The task system employee designation may be removed by the commission at any time upon its own motion or upon request of the department director and a finding that the conditions justifying its establishment as defined in subsection (a), above, no longer exist. (c) Task system employees shall be considered to be full-time employees, and those task system employees who are not otherwise exempt from civil service classification under section 2 of article Va shall be entitled to civil service classification. (d) The tasks to be performed as a regular workweek by each task system employee shall be as assigned from time to time by the department director. Such tasks shall be allocated so that they will require the actual performance of an average 40 hours of work per week on an annually adjusted basis. The department director shall maintain, by use of time clocks, a record of the hours actually worked by each task system employee by name and classification and shall furnish an annual report thereof for each calendar year to the commission by the thirty-first day of January of the next year so that the commission may properly review its designation pursuant to subsection (b) above. Any task system employee who is aggrieved by his or her task assignments shall be entitled to the recourse provided by the grievance procedure established in section 14-50 of this Code. (e) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsections (a) and (d), above, the commission may, by order, find that an average of a lesser number of hours of productive effort is equivalent to an average of 40 hours per week on an annually adjusted basis for any classifications or positions of employees authorized for task system assignment, if their department director demonstrates to the commission each of the following: (1) That the employees are required by virtue of the nature of their work to perform strenuous and continuing physical labor without an opportunity for the rest periods which are usually afforded to employees in other classifications; (2) That no practicable means exist to restructure the employees' work assignments to provide such rest periods; and (3) That the work tasks assigned to the employees will require a productive effort which is equivalent to not less than 40 hours of work as performed by other city employees who are assigned to labor under the normal working conditions associated with city employment. Employees who are authorized to perform a reduced workweek pursuant to this section shall, nevertheless, not be subject to overtime benefits in any workweek unless and until all of the requirements of section 14-168 of this Code, specifically including the requirements of subsection (e) thereof have been met. The designation of any position or classification of task system employees as equivalent workweek employees shall not impair their right to civil service classification under subsection (c) above. Consistent with the nature of the work to be performed, the commission shall establish minimum time in attendance work hour requirements, which shall in no event be less than 32 hours per week, for payroll reporting purposes as to each position or classification of task system employment which is authorized to perform an equivalent workweek under this subsection. (Ord. No. 2015-1300, § 2(Exh. A), 12-16-2015)

Source: City of Houston, Code of Ordinances and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/houston/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH14CISE_ARTIIRU_DIV1RU1.DE_S14-28TASYEMFetched: 10/26/2026