Overtime Compensation for Surveillance Activity

An agency requested a decision as to whether three special agents were entitled to additional overtime compensation for regularly scheduled overtime in addition to their annual premium pay for administratively uncontrollable overtime. In deciding this question, GAO was asked to consider whether scheduled overtime must occur within the same time period on successive days. After deciding to conduct a 4-day surveillance operation, the office to which the special agents were assigned, established and provided the agents with a work schedule which was subsequently revised prior to the commencement of the surveillance operation. The schedule was amended again once the surveillance was underway. During the period in which the overtime was worked, the agents were being compensated for administrative uncontrollable overtime pursuant to the law. The law provides that special agents may receive additional overtime compensation only if it is determined that the overtime work was regularly scheduled. The test for regularly scheduled overtime is that the overtime must recur so frequently and at such regular intervals as to fall into a predictable and discernible pattern. In this case, the overtime was clearly authorized in advance, and an attempt was made to schedule individual assignments in advance to recur on successive days. However, the schedules actually worked were very irregular, and the time intervals of the overtime were not predictable, nor did they establish a discernible pattern. GAO concluded that the overtime was not regularly scheduled within the meaning of the law, and the special agents were not entitled to the additional compensation. Concerning the recurring nature of regularly scheduled overtime, it was pointed out that it is not mandatory that scheduled overtime occur within the same time period on successive days for it to be considered as regularly scheduled overtime.