Request for Compensatory Time or Overtime Compensation

The Director of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Personnel Division requested GAO to determine whether certain IRS employees were entitled to compensatory time or overtime compensation for travel outside their regular duty hours occasioned by severe weather conditions. There were three examples cited; two involved delayed flights due to blizzards, and one involved delayed travel by personal automobile because the highway was closed due to a snowstorm. All of the employees involved resumed their travel after regular duty hours. Governing regulations state that compensation can only be made if travel is carried out under arduous conditions or resulted from an event which could not be scheduled or controlled administratively. In all three cases, severe weather conditions interrupted travel; therefore, travel was not carried out under arduous conditions. The scheduling of an event does not include weather conditions. Accordingly, GAO determined that these employees were not entitled to overtime compensation for travel outside their regular duty hours.