Rep. Jason Chaffetz is teaming with Montana Senator Jon Tester to sponsor legislation that aims to cut down on abuses of overtime pay among Department of Homeland Security agents.
The bill comes in response to a report that said DHS agents were using some forms of overtime to boost their paychecks. The overtime in question is normally used for “urgent” work.
Under the bipartisan proposal, that pay would be replaced with three options: working 100 hours per pay period and receiving a 25 percent differential; working 90 hours and receiving a 12 percent differential; or working no overtime at all.
The biggest change would be that unscheduled overtime worked beyond 100 hours will be treated as compensatory time off, whereas scheduled overtime would be paid.
Agents will face an approximately $7,000 pay reduction per agent when implemented. In total the annual cost saving to the taxpayer will exceed $125 million per year, said Shawn Moran, vice president of union. In recognition of this pay cut, agents will receive an additional 40 hours of leave in 2014 and 2015.
The new pay scale would “smooth out the peaks and valleys and make the 10-hour days less volatile and more consistent,” Chaffetz said, adding that there needs to be more “good old-fashioned time management.”
