Congress signs off on comp time for Justice lawyers’ travel

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday providing compensatory time off for Justice Department lawyers on business travel, following House approval of the measure in March.

Sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and passed unanimously, the bill provides Justice lawyers the same benefit as the rest of their white-collar counterparts in the federal government. The bill now goes to President Bush.

Congress initially granted civil servants comp time for travel as part of the 2004 Federal Workforce Flexibility Act. The Justice Department, however, determined that it lacked authority to grant lawyers the benefit because of limitations on their premium pay.

Richard Delonis, president of the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, which has lobbied Congress for two years to force Justice to change its rule, said the department's attorneys are being asked to spend more nights and weekends traveling.

"The comp time legislation passed by Congress sends an important message to these dedicated public servants, assuring that they do not bear an extra burden that Congress did not intend to impose," Delonis said.

On the House side, Reps. Jon Porter, R-Nev.; Tom Davis, R-Va.; Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Danny Davis, D-Ill.; and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., introduced the comp time bill (H.R. 4057) to correct the variation in benefits.

Agencies can award travel comp time when they are otherwise unable to compensate employees for time spent in transit outside of normal work hours. They are not allowed to give cash payments, but there is no limit on the amount of time off they can award.

The rules on travel comp time are complex. For example, time spent eating meals is not eligible. That includes meals eaten at an airport while waiting for a flight. The Office of Personnel Management considers this to be time that employees would have spent eating elsewhere.

In addition, regular commuting time is deducted from travel comp time. If employees travel to the airport from home in the morning, they must deduct the amount of time they normally spend commuting. But if employees travel from work to the airport, then that time is considered compensable.

By law, members of the Senior Executive Service, immigration judges and Federal Wage System employees in the Justice Department will remain ineligible for travel comp time.