[Applicability of Fair Labor Standards Act to Firefighters]

Clarification was requested concerning a GAO decision which held that the overtime pay limitation in a federal regulation applied to employees of the Panama Canal Commission, since they were no longer covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employees in question were employed as firefighters prior to the enactment date of the Panama Canal Act and had been entitled to FLSA overtime pay. The Panama Canal Act amended the FLSA by deleting a reference to the Canal Zone as a territory or possession in which the FLSA applied. GAO found that a sufficient showing was made to differentiate the firefighters in question from the Commission employees discussed in the prior decision. Differences in working hours gave rise to a significant protracted difference in pay under FLSA for firefighters. The nonapplication of a grandfather clause in the Panama Canal Act to the firefighters would significantly impair the terms and conditions of their employment in contravention of the Panama Canal Treaty and the Panama Canal Act. The federal regulation cited in the previous decision applied only to firefighters newly hired by the Commission on or after the enactment date of the Panama Canal Act. Accordingly, GAO held that those firefighters who were transferred to the Commission were entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA provisions which applied prior to October 1, 1979.