[USDA Request for Decision Concerning Entitlement of Forest Service Employees to Overtime Compensation]

A decision was requested concerning the entitlement of five Forest Service employees to receive overtime compensation incident to travel from temporary duty locations which were isolated from their permanent duty stations. Two of the employees were given a 1-day temporary duty assignment at a remote location; however, due to inclement weather conditions, they were forced to spend the night unsheltered waiting for air transportation and were brought back the following day during regular working hours. The employees requested and were paid 15.5 hours overtime. GAO was asked whether they were properly paid for the hours spent waiting to be picked up or whether they should have been reimbursed for only the hours in excess of hours allocated to sleep. GAO concurred with an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) analysis that, since the employees had no shelter on the island where they were working, facilities for sleep were inadequate. Therefore, they were properly paid for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the full time period. Three other employees requested overtime for time they spent waiting for transportation at a remote work site and traveltime on a nonworkday. The employees were reimbursed overtime for some of the time spent waiting for transportation, but not for travel time. GAO was asked whether the employees were reimbursed the proper amount for time spent waiting for transportation and whether travel time was reimbursable. The agency had denied overtime for some of the waiting period and travel time because the employees had been relieved from duty during the period in question. Under FLSA, employees are only entitled to receive compensation for hours they spend waiting for travel which occurs during corresponding work hours. GAO concurred with OPM advice that the employees were not entitled to overtime compensation for the time during which they were relieved from duty and were not waiting for the plane. Accordingly, GAO found that the employees should be compensated for 1 additional hour of overtime for the waiting period, but not for traveltime.