Justice Department attorneys want travel comp time
Group asks Congress to examine department’s February decision declaring lawyers ineligible to receive the benefit.
A group representing Justice Department attorneys complained to Congress this month about the agency's decision to exclude them from compensatory time off for travel benefits that were recently applied to a majority of the federal workforce.
Richard L. Delonis, president of the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, wrote to Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, on April 13 to protest the move. Delonis said his group has "strong concerns" about the agency's interim guidance on compensatory time off for travel, which was issued Feb. 9.
The 2004 Federal Workforce Flexibility Act, passed late last year, allows agencies to compensate employees with time off for business travel they conduct outside of normal working hours. The Office of Personnel Management issued interim regulations that went into effect Jan. 28, essentially allowing federal workers to receive equal time off in exchange for work-related travel outside of regular business hours. Justice Department guidelines release in February, however, specifically barred agency attorneys from receiving the benefit.
Delonis said the agency took a six-year-old limitation on overtime pay and used it out of context to exclude attorneys from the new benefit.
"In excluding department attorneys from the availability of compensatory time, the department inappropriately relies upon an unrelated statutory limitation upon the payment of premium pay for Department of Justice attorneys," Delonis wrote. "That limitation, established by Congress in 1999, was intended solely to constrain the Department of Justice from honoring claims for overtime by Department of Justice attorneys that were at that time the focus of a lawsuit, which since has been resolved."
Justice officials could not answer questions about NAAUSA's letter or the use of the 1999 pay limitation to make a decision about compensatory time off by press time.
Delonis said the agency's decision was "unreasonable and unfounded." He added that the OPM guidance issued in January specifically directed agencies to consider the compensatory time off separately from several premium pay limitations.
"I urge you to closely examine the underlying action of the Department of Justice in this matter and the harmful impact it bears upon the 9,000 attorneys employed throughout the department," Delonis wrote. "These public servants are being asked as never before to pursue justice and assist in the protection of the nation against countless threats."