SECTION 13. ANNUAL PREMIUM PAY FOR ADMINISTRATIVELY UNCONTROLLABLE OVERTIME

Applicability

GS employees and FP employees are eligible to earn annual premium pay for administratively uncontrollable overtime. ES, FE, and FO employees are ineligible. FWS employees do not work administratively uncontrollable overtime.

Definition

Premium pay for administratively uncontrollable overtime (AUO) is pay to an employee as a percentage of his or her annual rate of basic pay for hours of duty consisting of substantial amounts of irregular or occasional overtime work with the employee generally being responsible for recognizing, without supervision, circumstances which require him or her to remain on duty. See the schedule in this Section for rates that may be paid.

"Rate of basic pay " for purposes of this section includes any applicable special rate of pay for law enforcement officers or special pay adjustment for law enforcement officers under Section 302, 403, or 404 of the FEPCA of 1990, respectively; a locality-based comparability payment under 5 U.S.C. 5304; any applicable special rate of pay under 5 U.S.C. 5305 or similar provision of law.

Authorization

Persons who are authorized to approve premium pay may approve payment of AUO. Yearly, in January, these officials are responsible for assessing work requirements and reviewing records of actual overtime worked, determining the rate of premium pay payable from the schedule in this Section and designating those individuals who will receive it. An employee may not be certified eligible to receive AUO retroactively. A manager is in violation of law if he or she certifies employees' eligible for AUO when it is known that employees are not performing hours of unscheduled work commensurate with the category for which they are being paid.

Criteria for rate selection

AUO will not be paid if it is not cost effective. In order to be cost effective, annual premium pay for AUO must total less than the amount the employee would earn if he or she were paid at the appropriate overtime rate for actual hours of irregular or occasional overtime work required by the position. In selecting a rate from the schedule in this Section, a manager should consider prior year overtime requirements, new work requirements, and other reasonable considerations. The rate selected will be paid even in pay periods when the employee is not required to work all the hours on which payment is predicated, or, conversely, is required to work longer.

Interpretation of criteria

The requirement that a position be one in which "the hours of duty cannot be controlled administratively" must be inherent in the nature of the position. For example, the work hours of some U.S. Marshalls are governed by what criminals do and when they do it. In a position of this type, the hours of duty cannot be controlled by hiring additional personnel or rescheduling the hours of duty.

The requirement that an employee must be required to perform "substantial amounts of irregular or occasional overtime work" involves the following elements:

• A substantial amount of irregular or occasional overtime work means an average of at least 3 hours a week of that overtime work;
  
  
• The irregular or occasional overtime work is a continual requirement, generally averaging more than once a week; and
  
  
• There must be a definite basis for anticipating that the irregular or occasional overtime work will continue over an appropriate period with a duration and frequency sufficient to meet the requirements of this Section.

• The responsibility for an employee to remain on duty when required by circumstances must be a definite, official, and special requirement of his or her position;
  
  
• The employee must remain on duty not merely because it is desirable but because of compelling reasons inherently related to continuance of his or her duties, and of such a nature that failure to carry on would constitute negligence; and
  
  
• The requirement that the employee is responsible for "recognizing circumstances" does not include such clear-cut instances as, for example, when an employee must continue working because a relief fails to report as scheduled.

• The employee is required to continue on duty in continuation of a full daily tour of duty or, that after the end of the regular workday, the employee resumes duty in accordance with a prearranged plan or an awaited event (performance of only callback overtime work does not meet this requirement); and
  
  
• The employee has no choice as to when or where he or she may perform the work when he or she remains on duty in continuation of a full daily tour of duty. (This differs from a situation in which an employee has the option of taking work home or doing it at the office; or doing it in continuation of his or her regular hours of duty or later in the evening. It also differs from a situation in which an employee has such latitude in working hours, as when in a travel status, that he or she may decide to begin work later in the morning and continue working later at night to better accomplish a given objective.)

• A position which requires an average of at least 3 but not more than 5 hours a week of irregular or occasional overtime work--10 percent;
  
  
• A position which requires an average of over 5 but not more than 7 hours a week of irregular or occasional overtime work--15 percent;
  
  
• A position which requires an average of over 7 but not more than 9 hours a week of irregular or occasional overtime work--20 percent; or
  
  
• A position which requires an average of over 9 hours a week of irregular or occasional overtime work--25 percent.

• For a period of not more than 10 consecutive prescribed workdays on a temporary assignment to duties which do not warrant annual premium pay, and for a total of not more than 30 workdays in a calendar year while on temporary assignment; or
  
  
• For an aggregate of not more than 60 prescribed workdays on temporary assignment to a formally approved program for advanced training, directly related to the duties warranting premium pay.
  
  
• An employee may not be paid premium pay in excess of 60 days a year for the situations noted above combined.
  
  
• If an employee is already receiving annual premium pay when authorized leave with pay, annual premium pay will be continued for the period the employee is on leave so long as the criteria under which the premium pay was authorized continue to be met.