[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 826 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 826

   To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for appropriate 
   overtime pay for National Weather Service forecasters performing 
 essential services during severe weather events, and to limit Sunday 
 premium pay for employees of the National Weather Service to hours of 
                 service actually performed on Sunday.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 24, 1999

 Mr. Davis of Virginia (for himself, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, Mr. King, 
   Mr. Snyder, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mrs. Meek of 
Florida, Mr. Kucinich, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Frost, and Mr. McNulty) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for appropriate 
   overtime pay for National Weather Service forecasters performing 
 essential services during severe weather events, and to limit Sunday 
 premium pay for employees of the National Weather Service to hours of 
                 service actually performed on Sunday.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Weather Service Flexible 
Work Scheduling Act''.

SEC. 2. OVERTIME RATES.

    (a) In General.--Section 5542(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this 
        subsection, for an employee of the National Weather Service who 
        occupies a nonmanagerial position in GS-14 or under and, as 
        determined by the Secretary of Commerce--
                    ``(A) the duties of which are essential to the 
                immediate daily operation of the forecast and warning 
                responsibilities of the National Weather Service and 
                directly affect public and aviation safety;
                    ``(B) in which overtime work is usually unscheduled 
                due to the vicissitudes of severe weather; and
                    ``(C) in which overtime work is therefore unusually 
                taxing;
        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.''.
    (b) Exemption From Limitation.--Section 5547(a) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended in the second sentence by striking ``title.'' 
and inserting ``title, or to any employee of the National Weather 
Service who occupies a position described in section 5542(a)(5) of this 
title.''.

SEC. 3. FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULING.

    Subsection (a) of section 5546 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ``(a)'' and inserting ``(a)(1)'' and by adding at 
the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) In the case of an employee of the National Weather 
Service, the first sentence of paragraph (1) shall be applied by 
substituting `, with respect to that portion of such period of service 
which is performed on Sunday, to pay' for `to pay for the entire period 
of service'.
    ``(B) The Office of Personnel Management shall, for purposes of 
subparagraph (A), by regulation provide for the rounding of any 
fraction of an hour of service performed on Sunday to the next highest 
whole number, with offsetting rounding in non-Sunday service so that 
total service for the period involved remains the same.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to service 
performed on or after the first day of the first applicable pay period 
beginning after the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date of 
enactment of this Act.
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