Claim for Overtime Compensation In Lieu of Compensatory Time Off

An Air Force employee requested reconsideration of a Claims Division decision which denied his claim for overtime compensation in lieu of compensatory time. The employee served as public information officer to an Air Force Reserve unit during unit training assemblies one weekend of each month and 2 weeks of summer camp from December 1971 through August 1977 and received compensatory time off for the overtime he worked. Although he initialled his timecard for each day for all compensatory time worked and used, the employee stated that he was not advised of his rights with respect to choosing between overtime pay and compensatory time. Regulations provide that employees whose rate of basic pay is equal to, or less than, grade GS-10, step 10, may request compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation, while employees whose basic pay rate exceeds grade GS-10, step 10, may be required at the discretion of their agency to take compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation. Air Force regulations require that an employee initial his timecard to ensure his understanding that it is compensatory time which is being requested and used by the employee. The record showed that the employee could not have been required to take compensatory time prior to November 1975 because his pay rate was less than that of a GS-10, step 10, but that after that date, he could have been properly required to take compensatory time in lieu of overtime compensation because his pay rate was above the GS-10, step 10 rate. GAO found that the appeal was clearly predicated on a factual dispute with the Air Force as to whether, prior to November 1975, the employee requested compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation. Where the record contains a dispute of fact which cannot be resolved without an adversary proceeding, it is a longstanding GAO practice to resolve such disputes in favor of the Government. Therefore, the Claims Division disallowance of the claim was sustained.