Overtime Compensation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

An advance decision was requested concerning the claim of an Army employee for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A complaint on behalf of the employee was submitted to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for overtime for travel performed outside his normal tour of duty for a period beginning in 1974. OPM awarded his 30 hours of overtime per year from evidence submitted by the employee, substantiated by his supervisor, and confirmed by an OPM investigation. The Army failed to rebut the evidence supplied by the employee. The Army contended that it had paid for overtime for all periods of travel that could be substantiated by the travel vouchers in its records. It requested an advance decision as to the legality of payment of the overtime compensation as directed by the OPM compliance order. The Fair Labor Standards Act authorizes OPM to administer the provisions of the Act with respect to Federal employees. OPM regulations provide for a formal system of gathering facts and issuing a decision in response to complaints about possible Fair Labor Standards Act violations. GAO will will not disturb OPM findings unless they are clearly erroneous. The Army submitted no evidence to GAO that would compel a finding that the OPM determination was clearly erroneous. Thus GAO would not disturb the compliance order in this case. A six year statutory limitation must be imposed on a portion of the claim, even though the issue was not raised by either party. With the above modification, the employee was entitled to payment of overtime compensation pursuant to the compliance order issued by OPM.