Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Bush administration has signaled its willingness to reconsider its opposition to a proposal that would allow federal employees who travel outside of duty hours to receive compensatory time off for that time. That provision is in S-129, which has passed the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and similar language likely will be added to the House counterpart bill, HR-1601, when it moves through the Government Reform Committee there.

Backers of the idea say it’s unfair to ask employees to in effect donate time to the government by traveling on their own time; overtime pay can be paid for such time only in limited circumstances that don’t apply to many of the employees who do the most traveling. Allowing compensatory time off actually would save the government money, they argue, because rather than travel on their own time late in a day many employees will stay an extra night at their travel destination-racking up additional per diem charges-and travel back during working hours the next day.

The Office of Personnel Management, in a statement recently submitted to the House, argued that there is “no compelling business case” for providing compensatory time off for off-duty hours travel and that only 28 percent of private sector employers do so. However, during a hearing, an OPM official indicated that the agency is willing to take a fresh look at the issue, holding out the prospect that while the administration might not actively support the provision, neither would it oppose the change.