Claim for Premium Pay on an Annual Basis

An Immigration Officer appealed the denial of his claim for premium pay on an annual basis for administratively uncontrollable overtime duty. The record showed that the employee is currently employed as an Immigration Officer. However, prior to taking this position, he was employed as a Border Patrol Officer. While a Border Patrol Officer, he qualified for annual premium pay based upon administratively uncontrollable overtime for a period which ended in August 1978.The employee requested payment of that pay from the date he started in his current position to the last day of the period in which he was eligible to receive the pay in his previous position. GAO held that, to meet the eligibility requirements to receive premium pay, the employee's position must be one in which the hours of duty cannot be controlled administratively and which requires substantial amounts of irregular or occasional overtime work with the employee generally being responsible for recognizing, without supervision, circumstances which require him to remain on duty. The employee has not claimed that his position meets these criteria. In fact, the documentation which he submitted indicated that his duties do not qualify for administratively uncontrollable overtime pay. Accordingly, GAO found no basis to overturn the previous denial.