Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this subtitle applies to all employees, including temporary employees, of all units in the Executive Branch of State government, including any unit with an independent personnel system. This subtitle does not apply to employees of a unit that must provide a service continuously on a 7-day-a-week basis.

The Secretary shall adopt regulations that provide for work schedules to allow an employee whose religious beliefs require absence from work to perform optional, compensatory work outside of the employee's regular work hours to offset the absence.

If an employee who is entitled to overtime pay elects to perform compensatory work under this section: for any workweek in which the employee works 40 hours or less, each hour of compensatory work offsets 1 hour of absence for religious observance; and for any workweek in which the employee works more than 40 hours, each hour of compensatory work over 40 hours offsets 1.5 hours of absence for religious observance. If an employee who is exempt from overtime pay elects to perform compensatory work under this section, each hour of compensatory work offsets 1 hour of absence for religious observance.

A unit may adopt written policies that provide exceptions to this subtitle for the efficient operation of the unit.