OPM seeks to boost managers' overtime pay

The Office of Personnel Management has submitted legislation to Congress that would allow federal managers to receive higher overtime pay for work performed during emergencies. The bill would boost the overtime pay cap for managers and supervisors to GS-12, step 1 from GS-10, step 1. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 requires that federal employees in non-supervisory positions be paid at a rate of one and a half times their normal base pay for overtime. But managers are exempt from receiving full time-and-a-half pay for overtime under the act. For managers, overtime pay is set at one and a half times the hourly rate of basic pay up to the level of GS-10, step 1. In addition, managers' total compensation cannot exceed the maximum biweekly pay for GS-15, step 10. Once they reach that cap, any overtime they work must be performed for free. Overtime pay has long been a contentious issue for federal managers. Supervisors sometimes earn less per hour for overtime work than what they would earn at their normal rate of pay. The issue came to the fore this summer after federal employees and managers in western states worked overtime to battle wildfires that raged out of control. OPM's proposal would benefit managers who supervise federal firefighters, but aren't compensated equally for their work. OPM's bill would guarantee "that any FLSA-exempt manager or supervisor who is performing an emergency service in an overtime capacity would be paid at a rate at least equal to his or her normal rate of pay," said Janice R. Lachance, director of OPM. Various legislative proposals over the years have aimed to fix overtime pay inequities. In 1998, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., proposed raising the overtime cap on managers from GS-10, Step 1, to one and a half times the rate of pay for GS-15, Step 1. After many members of Congress rejected that proposal as too costly, Davis last year proposed that managers be guaranteed that they would always receive at least their regularly hourly pay rate during overtime hours. Neither proposal became law. OPM's bill limits boosting overtime pay to emergency situations, but would not be limited to situations where the President has declared an emergency. Agencies, in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget, would determine what is and isn't an emergency. The House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Civil Service is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on the overtime pay issue. Expected to testify are Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., and Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Kent Swartzlander, a professional firefighter; and Henry Romero, a representative from OPM.