The Office of Personnel Management has issued two addendums,
one on Fair Labor Standards Act status regarding overtime
work and another on hardship pay, to its handbook on pay
and leave benefits for federal employees affected by severe
weather or other emergency situations.
Agencies are required to determine the FLSA status of
FLSA-exempt employees temporarily assigned to
FLSA-nonexempt work in connection with an emergency,
based on work actually performed during that time, each
week, until the agency declares the emergency ended,
according to OPM.
It said employees who perform nonexempt work for over 20
percent of a workweek are covered under FLSA overtime pay
provisions and entitled to overtime pay for all overtime
hours worked that week.
“There is no hourly cap on FLSA overtime pay, which
includes an employee’s ‘straight time rate of pay’ times
all overtime hours worked, plus one-half times the
employee’s ‘hourly regular rate of pay’ times all overtime
hours worked,” according to OPM.
Further, it said FLSA overtime may not count toward
biweekly or annual premium pay limitations or the aggregate
limitation on pay established with 5 U.S.C. 5307.
