[Decision Concerning Army Employees' Entitlement to Retroactive Overtime Pay]

A labor federation presented a claim on behalf of nine Army civilian employees for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), requesting reconsideration of an earlier GAO decision not to consider the claims' merits because the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) found the employees to be exempt from FLSA coverage. The Claims Court recently found that OPM should have classified the claimants as nonexempt under FLSA, and the claimants were entitled to overtime pay retroactive to 2 years prior to the date they filed the complaint. GAO held that the claimants were entitled to backpay for all overtime worked prior to the date of the original claim. Accordingly, the claim was allowed for the seven claimants who had authorized the labor federation to act on their behalf, but not for the two who failed to submit authorization.