[Letter]

B-271346 Jul 12, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Sec. 5547(c) on the amount of premium pay that is payable to a law enforcement officer in any pay period was properly denied. While the agent argues that he should have been paid the withheld premium pay in a lump sum in the calendar year following the year in which it was withheld. Bibb: This is in further response to your February 6. It is your position that the premium pay denied you as a result of that limitation should be paid to you pursuant to another provision of law. In a lump sum in the year following the year in which it was earned. The Secret Service and the Claims Group were correct in denying your claim. Provides the authority for payment of various types of premium pay and specifies the types of work for which it is payable (including overtime [2]) and the methods of computation. View Decision B-271346 July 12, 1996 Secret Service special agent's claim for overtime premium pay withheld due to the limitation in 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5547(c) on the amount of premium pay that is payable to a law enforcement officer in any pay period was properly denied. While the agent argues that he should have been paid the withheld premium pay in a lump sum in the calendar year following the year in which it was withheld, as authorized under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5307(b), this section applies only to payments withheld due to the limitation in section 5307(a) on aggregate annual compensation payable. Section 5307(b) does not authorize lump sum payments of amounts withheld due to the pay period limitation on premium pay provided in section 5547(c). Mr. Harold L. Bibb 8563 Huntleigh Way Germantown, Tennessee 38138 Dear Mr. Bibb: This is in further response to your February 6, 1996, letter requesting review of our Claims Group's denial [1] of your claim for additional compensation for overtime you worked as a special agent, United States Secret Service. Your claim arose as a result of the Secret Service's application to your pay of the biweekly limitation provided by 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5547(c) on premium pay that may be paid to a law enforcement officer. It is your position that the premium pay denied you as a result of that limitation should be paid to you pursuant to another provision of law, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5307, in a lump sum in the year following the year in which it was earned. The Secret Service denied your claim on the basis that section 5307 does not apply to the additional premium pay you seek, and our Claims Group subsequently denied your claim on the same basis. For the reasons explained below, the Secret Service and the Claims Group were correct in denying your claim. The record shows that pursuant to the biweekly limitation provided by 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5547(c), the Secret Service denied payment to you of premium pay for the pay period ending May 14, 1994, for 13.25 hours of overtime in the amount of $401.06, and for the pay period ending November 27, 1993, for 1 hour of overtime in the amount of $32.42. Title 5, U.S. Code, Chapter 55, Subchapter V, provides the authority for payment of various types of premium pay and specifies the types of work for which it is payable (including overtime [2]) and the methods of computation. Section 5547, entitled "Limitation on premium pay," is a part of Subchapter V, and provides limitations on the amounts of premium pay that may be paid. Subsection 5547(c) applies specifically to law enforcement officers and provides that premium pay for overtime [under section 5542] may be paid "only to the extent that the payment does not cause the officer's aggregate rate of pay for any pay period to exceed the lesser of -- (A) 150 percent of the minimum rate payable for GS-15 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law); or (B) the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule." As noted above, it was these provisions of section 5547, specifically applicable to the amount of premium pay for overtime that may be paid to a law enforcement officer for "any pay period," that precluded the Secret Service from paying you the amounts for overtime worked in the two pay periods referred to above. It is your position, however, that these amounts should have been paid to you in a lump sum in the year following the year in which they were earned as authorized by 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5307. Section 5307 is a provision of title 5, U.S. Code, Chapter 53, Subchapter I, which makes provisions for the pay comparability system.