Every Friday on GovExec.com, Legal Briefs reviews cases that involve, or provide valuable lessons to, federal managers. We report on the decisions of a wide range of review panels, including the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and federal courts.
Charles M. Auker, a Defense Department employee, was ordered to report to a meeting in Bratenahl, Ohio on July 12. Agency officials didn't say how he was supposed to get to the meeting. So, on July 12, he drove his car to Bratenahl and, on the way, stopped to buy some safety shoes he was authorized to get at a store in Cleveland. Auker submitted a travel reimbursement claim for 31 cents a mile for the 82 miles it took to get to both places and back.
When DoD said the agency could only pay him 10.5 cents per mile, Auker was confused. According to DoD, Auker should have driven a government-owned vehicle to the meeting. But a letter from his supervisor a week before told Auker that a government vehicle was around for his use, but that he should not use it without making advance arrangements. Auker took the letter to mean that he should use his own car for official travel.
The General Services Board of Contract Appeals said the matter was cut and dry. Travel regulations clearly state that anytime employees opt to drive a personally owned car instead of a government-owned vehicle, they can only be reimbursed for as much as the government car trip would have cost. Auker got reimbursed at 10.5 cents per mile.
Lesson: If the government offers you a car, drive it.
In the matter of Charles M. Auker, General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals (15231-TRAV), April 24, 2000.
State and Local Comp Time
The Supreme Court weighed in on an issue close to many employees' hearts this week-compensatory time off. Employees at the Harris County sheriff's department sued the county for requiring them to schedule time off when they began to accrue too much comp time.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, states and local governments can pay their employees for overtime by offering compensatory time instead of cash. Harris County required its employees to schedule leave when their comp time built up so that the county could avoid having to pay large lump sums for the accrued leave. But the sheriff's department employees thought it unfair that they had to take the time off, rather than get paid for it. The Supreme Court said tough luck, holding that nothing in the law prevents an employer from making employees use up their comp time.
An Office of Personnel Management spokesman said the ruling doesn't apply to the federal government. To see federal rules on comp time, click here.
Lesson: Don't expect overtime pay if you switch from federal to state or local government.
Christensen et al. v. Harris County et al. (98-1167), Supreme Court of the United States, May 1, 2000.
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