(a) at a premium pay rate of 25 percent above the employee's regular rate of basic pay. These round-the-clock staff requirements for air traffic control specialists are met to the maximum extent feasible by rotation and by scheduling the workweek of the available air traffic control personnel, including regularly scheduled overtime hours. In addition, these employees must from time to time be called back for unscheduled overtime duty to meet unforeseeable fluctuations in air traffic or special air traffic burdens imposed by weather conditions. One result of the GS-10, step 1, limitation on payment of overtime is that the GS-12 and GS-13 air traffic control specialist or crew chief receives less than time and one-half for his overtime work. In fact, the percentage of premium pay decreases steadily as the employee's rate of basic pay increases, and the "premium" disappears entirely when the overtime work is performed by an employee whose regular rate of pay equals or exceeds that for a position at GS-12, step 6. From that point forward the employee actually draws less hourly pay for overtime work than he does for regular nonovertime work. This situation creates gross inequities and inevitably generates employee morale problems, as well as reluctance by employees to remain available for frequent callback for overtime work. The following example illustrates the problem in more concrete terms: Under the Federal Salary Act of 1967, an air traffic control specialist in GS-12, step 6, receives $6.43 per hour as his basic regular rate of pay. When he performs regularly scheduled Sunday work (nonovertime) he receives an additional 25 percent for a total of $8.04 per hour for scheduled Sunday work. On the other hand, if this same GS-12, step 6, air traffic control specialist is required to work overtime he receives a maximum payment of $6.36 per hour for such overtime. This is 7 cents per hour less than his regular rate of pay. If this unscheduled overtime work is performed on a Sunday the maximum overtime rate remains at $6.36 because of the GS-10, step 1, limitation, creating a disparity of $1.68 per hour as against his rate of pay for regularly scheduled nonovertime Sunday work. The disparities become even greater if the employee is at a higher step in grade and draws a regular rate of pay higher than that of GS-12, step 6. A crew chief at GS-13, step 5, for example, is paid $1 per hour less for overtime than for regular time with correspondingly larger disparities for Sunday overtime work. The overall result is that the employee working under the conditions described above not only finds himself working overtime for less than his regular rate of pay but may be working side by side with an employee of the same grade who, because he is working on his regularly scheduled Sunday shift, is being paid substantially more per hour for the same work. The illustration speaks for itself by indicating the employee morale problems that exist in such a situation, and the accompanying problems of having employees willingly remain available for such overtime work. The remedy applied by our draft bill is simply to remove the GS-10, step 1, limitation from the payment of overtime for those FAA personnel who perform functions which directly affect aviation safety and to permit the payment to such employees of straight time and one-half overtime pay. The draft bill does not seek to alter the limitation on premium pay imposed by 5 U.S.C. 5547, which limits the aggregate pay including premium to the maximum rate for GS-15. This limitation poses no serious problem at this time. Standby time.-The draft bill proposes also to elimiante the GS-10, step 1, limitations presently imposed on payment for standby duty pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 5545 (c) (1), to alleviate inequities in standby duty assignments similar to those discussed above with respect to overtime. The Department of Transportation estimates that (1) the overtime pay provisions would affect 9,000 to 10,000 air traffic controllers and approximately 6,000 airway facilities personnel; and (2) based on fiscal year 1969 overtime pay costs of $8,300,000, the overtime pay provision would result in an additional cost of $1,500,000 annually. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection from the standpoint of the administration's program to the submission of this proposed legislation to the Congress. Sincerely, JOHN E. ROBSON, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Hon. MORRIS K. UDALL, Chairman, Subcommittee on Compensation, Post Office and Civil Service Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter is in response to a request of the committee staff respecting the airway facilities personnel who would be covered by the provisions of H.R. 18630. Under the provisions of the bill, it is necessary that the Secretary of Transportation determine that the duties of the employee be critical to the immediate daily operation of the air traffic control system and directly affect aviation safety. Among those who will qualify under those criteria are airway facilities technical personnel who keep the air traffic control, communications, and navigation systems working. It is the duty of these personnel to assure continuous and reliable technical operation of radar display, instrument landing, and other systems for the control and use of air traffic. They insure that technical operation is within prescribed standards, certify satisfactory operation, prevent deterioration, and in the event of equipment failure or abnormal operation take expeditious corrective action to preclude air traffic delays and assure aviation safety. These airway facilities personnel, of course, do not include the air traffic control specialists who will be covered by the bill. I trust that this information meets your needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is any further information we can supply. Sincerely, D. D. THOMAS, Deputy Administrator. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED In compliance with clause 3 of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): SECTIONS 5542 (a) AND 5545 (c) (1) OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE § 5542. Overtime rates; computation. (a) Hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 hours in an administrative workweek, or (with the exception of an employee engaged in professional or technical engineering or scientific activities for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek and an employee whose basic pay exceeds the minimum rate for GS-10 for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek) in excess of 8 hours in a day, performed by an employee are overtime work and shall be paid for, except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, at the following rates: (1) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay. (2) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, and all that amount is premium pay. (3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection for an employee of the Department of Transportation who occupies a nonmanagerial position in GS-14 or under and, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation, (A) the duties of which are critical to the immediate daily operation of the air traffic control system, directly affect aviation safety, and involve physical or mental strain or hardship; (B) in which overtime work is therefore unusually taxing; and (C) in which operating requirements cannot be met without substantial overtime work; the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay. § 5545. Night, Sunday, standby, irregular, and hazardous duty differential. (a) Except as provided by subsection (b) of this section, nightwork is regularly scheduled work between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., and includes (1) periods of absence with pay during these hours due to holidays; and (2) periods of leave with pay during these hours if the periods of leave with pay during a pay period total less than 8 hours. Except as otherwise provided by subsection (c) of this section, an employee is entitled to pay for nightwork at his rate of basic pay plus premium pay amounting to 10 percent of that basic rate. This subsection and subsection (b) of this section do not modify section 180 of title 31, or other statute authorizing additional pay for nightwork. (b) The head of an agency may designate a time after 6:00 p.m. and a time before 6:00 a.m. as the beginning and end, respectively, of nightwork for the purpose of subsection (a) of this section, at a post outside the United States where the customary hours of business extend into the hours of nightwork provided by subsection (a) of this section. (c) The head of an agency, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, may provide that (1) an employee in a position requiring him regularly to remain at, or within the confines of, his station during longer than ordinary periods of duty, a substantial part of which consists of remaining in a standby status rather than performing work, shall receive premium pay for this duty on an annual basis instead of premuim pay provided by other provisions of this subchapter, except for irregular, unscheduled overtime duty in excess of his regularly scheduled weekly tour. Premium pay under this paragraph is determined as an appropriate pecentage, not in excess of 25 percent, of such part of the rate of basic pay for the position as does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10 (or, for a position described in section 5542 (a) (3) of this title, of the basic pay of the position), by taking into consideration the number of hours of actual work required in the position, the number of hours required in a standby status at or within the confines of the station, the extent to which the duties of the position are made more onerous by night, Sunday, or holiday work, or by being extended over periods of more than 40 hours a week, and other relevant factors; or (2) an employee in a position in which the hours of duty cannot be controlled administratively, and which requires substantial amounts of irregular, unscheduled, overtime duty and duty at night, on Sundays, and on holidays with the employee generally being responsible for recognizing, without supervision, circumstances which require him to remain on duty, shall receive premium pay for this duty on an annual basis instead of premium pay provided by other provisions of this subchapter, except for regularly scheduled overtime duty. Premium pay under this paragraph is determined as an appropriate percentage, not less than 10 percent nor more than 25 percent, of such part of the rate of basic pay for the position as does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, by taking into consideration the frequency and duration of night, holiday, Sunday, and unscheduled overtime duty required in the position. * |