Calculating Overtime Pay Rates for Government Printing Office, B-288992, March 17, 2003

B-288992 Mar 17, 2003 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Section 9(b) employees are those employees whose wages are established through collective bargaining pursuant to section 9(b) of Pub. Section 9(b) specifies that bargaining agreements that were in existence at the time Public Law 92-392 was enacted are exempt from the wage setting amendments in the Act. GAO has consistently held that section 5544 governs the overtime compensation received by employees whose compensation is fixed pursuant to 44 U.S.C. Recently held that GPO's authority to calculate overtime is not so limited. GPO had not understood our 1979 decision to have overruled our 1978 decisions. It is important to set out GAO's jurisdiction. The Comptroller General is required to respond to agencies' requests for decisions on questions involving payments the agency will make. 31 U.S.C. View Decision Calculating Overtime Pay Rates for Government Printing Office Employees, B-288992, March 17, 2003 DIGEST DECISION The Controller of the Government Printing Office (GPO) has requested an advance decision regarding the status, as it pertains to GPO employees, of a 1978 Comptroller General decision, 57 Comp. Gen. 259 (1978). In that decision, we held that 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5544, which addresses overtime entitlements for federal wage system employees, also applied to so-called section 9(b) employees. Section 9(b) employees are those employees whose wages are established through collective bargaining pursuant to section 9(b) of Pub. L. No. 92-392, 86 Stat. 564 (1972). Section 9(b) specifies that bargaining agreements that were in existence at the time Public Law 92-392 was enacted are exempt from the wage setting amendments in the Act. We also held in 57 Comp. Gen. 259 that section 5544 establishes overtime pay at not greater than one and one-half times the employee's basic hourly rate of pay. Even though GPO sets wages under different authority, 44 U.S.C. Sec. 305, rather than 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5544, GAO has consistently held that section 5544 governs the overtime compensation received by employees whose compensation is fixed pursuant to 44 U.S.C. Sec. 305. 60 Comp. Gen. 431, 432-433 (1981); B-176365, Oct. 31, 1972. Shortly after we issued 57 Comp. Gen 259, we extended to GPO employees its holding that section 5544 establishes overtime pay for hourly employees at not greater than one and one-half times the basic hourly rate for employees. B-191619, May 9, 1978. GPO has asked about the status of our 1978 decisions because the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), in a matter involving GPO union employees, recently held that GPO's authority to calculate overtime is not so limited. U.S. Government Printing Office and Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 100, 57 FLRA 64 (2001). In reaching its conclusion, FLRA stated that the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111 (1978) (codified at chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code), and a 1979 Comptroller General decision, 58 Comp. Gen. 198 (1979), overruled our 1978 decisions. GPO had not understood our 1979 decision to have overruled our 1978 decisions, and so has asked us the status of those 1978 decisions. At the outset, it is important to set out GAO's jurisdiction. The comptroller General may not overrule a specific arbitration award or a decision of the FLRA made thereon. Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, title VII, Pub. L. No. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111 (1978). See also 59 Comp. Gen. 527, 529 (1980); 58 Comp. Gen. 198, 200 (1979). The Comptroller General has the authority to settle the accounts of the United States government and thus ensure the legality of government expenditures. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3526(a). Also, the Comptroller General is required to respond to agencies' requests for decisions on questions involving payments the agency will make. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3529. Here, GPO does not ask us to address, and we do not address, FLRA's ruling in Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 100. Instead, GPO asks us to clarify our 1978 and 1979 decisions in the context of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. In that regard, after reviewing our decisions, we conclude that our 1979 decision, applying the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, did not overrule B-191619, which addresses GPO employees specifically, or 57 Comp. Gen. 259 to the extent that it pertains to GPO employees, because the section of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act at issue in the 1979 decision does not apply to GPO. Our 1979 decision overruled 57 Comp. Gen. 259 only as it pertained to section 9(b) employees, and GPO employees do not fall within this category. BACKGROUND In June 1999, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 100, filed a grievance claiming that GPO had improperly paid its members.