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[Claim for Overtime Pay]

B-208203 Feb 03, 1983
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Highlights

A certifying officer for the Department of Agriculture requested a decision concerning an employee's claim for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The certifying officer asked: (1) whether the fact that the employee was formally advised that she could not work any overtime nullified her claim, since the time worked was in contravention of a direct order; (2) whether the documentation submitted by the employee would be adequate to process the claim; and (3) whether, assuming the claim were disallowed, the agency should try to recover amounts already paid in a previous claim. GAO stated that, under the act, employers have a continuing responsibility to ensure that work is not performed when they do not want it to be performed, and management must ensure that supervisors enforce that rule. In this case, the employee's supervisor was aware that she was working overtime; however, he took no action to terminate this activity. Therefore, the agency must be said to have suffered or permitted her to work overtime. GAO concluded that the overtime work performed by the employee was compensable. Although the agency did not keep records concerning the employee's overtime, she submitted sufficient personal records to support her claim. Since the agency did not come forward with evidence to the contrary, the employee was entitled to overtime pay under the act. In addition, GAO found several errors in the agency's computation of hours worked. Therefore, before the agency pays the claim, GAO stated that it should conduct a thorough review of its time and attendance reports to ensure that the employee does not receive overtime pay for hours not worked. The agency should also review any available information concerning a claim which was previously paid so that any errors could be offset against the sum now due. Finally, since such claims are subject to a 6-year statute of limitations, any amount of the first claim which was incurred before that timeframe should be offset against the amount to be paid in satisfaction of the current claim. Accordingly, the agency may pay the claim.

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