[Entitlement to Premium Pay]

GAO was asked for a decision concerning the entitlement of firefighters at an Air Force base to additional premium pay when their overtime entitlement under the Fair Labor Standards Act is reduced due to court leave for jury duty. The firefighters in question are entitled to overtime compensation under the act for those duty hours in excess of 108 hours in a biweekly work period. Only those hours during which the employee is actually on duty are included in hours worked under the act, and paid time off is not included as hours worked. The Civil Service Commission has held that court leave during a firefighter's regularly scheduled tour of duty would reduce his actual time on duty and would therefore result in a reduction to his entitlement to overtime pay under the act. However, GAO found that Federal Regulations provide that an employee is entitled to leave for jury duty without a reduction or loss of pay. The provision does not require that an employee meet the applicable statutory criteria for compensation during a period of court leave, but provides that the compensation of the employee shall not be diminished by such absence. Although the firefighters' entitlement to overtime compensation under the act is reduced for those biweekly work periods in which they are on court leave during their regularly scheduled tour of duty, Federal Regulations provide authority to pay them the same pay as they otherwise would receive under the act. Accordingly, the firefighters were entitled to the same amount of pay which they would otherwise receive for their regularly scheduled tour of duty in a biweekly pay period notwithstanding periods of court leave.