Claim for Overtime Compensation

A Federal employee appealed the disallowance of his claim for overtime compensation he believed was due to him incident to his performance of certain pre- and post-shift activities as a member of the Federal Protective Service of the General Services Administration (GSA). He claimed entitlement for overtime for the amount of time he spent daily changing into and out of his uniform, obtaining a weapon, and assuming his duty post. In his request for reconsideration, the claimant included a copy of a report of a GSA employee who received payment for uniform changing time. He requested an explanation as to why that employee was entitled to payment while he was not. The GAO Claims Division disallowed the claim on the basis of GSA regulations and prior Comptroller General decisions. In addition, the lack of evidence of authorization for the overtime claimed and the de minimus nature of the time devoted to the activities in question. It has been held that payment for uniform changing time was permissible when regulations prohibited an employee from wearing the uniform away from the job. Since GSA did not require the uniform changes be made on the premises, the claim for overtime in this regard was properly disallowed. The claimant's request for payment for the time necessary each day for obtaining his weapon and reporting to his duty station was disallowed because the time necessary for these activities was less than 10 minutes per day. It has been held that overtime of less than 10 minutes per day is not compensable because it is de minimus. Finally, the other employee cited by the claimant received overtime payment for uniform changing time because regulations in that case forbade the wearing of uniforms away from the building. As noted, this was not the case here. The disallowance of the claim was sustained.