Managers would get higher overtime pay, under a bill Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., introduced last week.
Under H.R. 582, the cap on overtime pay, now at one and a half times General Schedule Grade 10, Step 1, would rise to one and a half times GS-15, Step 1. The increase would affect managers, engineers and other professionals whose overtime pay is capped at GS-10, Step 1.
"Clearly something needs to be done," said Ron Niesing, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations. "When the overtime cap was put in place, the average grade of a federal employee was a GS-9. Now the average is between a 10 and a 11. If for nothing else, the cap needs to move along with the changes in the federal grade structure." Niesing is also a Social Security manager in Green Bay, Wis.
Davis introduced the same bill last year, but critics charged that the measure would be too expensive for agencies. The current overtime cap in the Washington, D.C. area, for example, is $26.64 an hour. A GS-13, Step 4 manager would earn $45.87 an hour during overtime if the Davis bill were in effect now.
The overtime cap has been in effect since 1966, when Congress raised the cap from GS-9, Step 1. The cap only affects managers and certain professionals, who are exempted from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The act requires overtime pay to equal one and a half times basic pay for most employees. A GS-11 Step 3 Social Security claims representative, because he is not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, receives full time and a half for overtime work. His GS-12 supervisor, however, receives the GS-10, Step 1 level overtime pay.
"When management people come in to do overtime work, they are not sitting there supervising typically. The supervisors are usually involved in moving the workload," Niesing said. "We've had a lot of overtime in the past couple of years. There are offices that have been trying to get supervisors in place and they have not been able to do that. In some cases, managers have returned to the bargaining unit, partially due to this overtime issue. It becomes an economic situation."