In the latest of a series of similar decisions, a federal court has rejected
a claim for overtime pay for a group of federal law enforcement officers
seeking overtime pay for time spent driving to and from work in government-
issued cars.
In case No. 07-790C, the United States Court of Federal Claims signaled that
it would be unreceptive to future cases along the same lines, denying the claim
on grounds that the plaintiffs-in this case, a group of Drug Enforcement Agency
agents-had failed to distinguish the situation from prior cases in which the
court had sided with agency management in declaring the employees exempt from
overtime eligibility during such periods.
In response to a court order instructing them to show a point of difference,
the plaintiffs had argued that the time was comparable to time spent driving
between different work stations. However, the court sided with the government,
which said that such time differs from commuting time between home and work.
The agents also argued that the time they spend driving is productive "on the
job" time, but the court said that contention already had been addressed in a
prior appeals court decision which termed the time merely a condition of
employment.
