[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1598

   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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 16, 1999

  Mr. Roberts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
           referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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)(A) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), the 
        overtime hourly rate of pay for an employee described under 
        subparagraph (B) 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) Subparagraph (A) refers to an employee of the 
        National Weather Service who occupies a nonmanagerial 
        position--
                    ``(i) classified at GS-14 or lower; and
                    ``(ii) as determined by the Secretary of Commerce--
                            ``(I) 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;
                            ``(II) in which overtime work is usually 
                        unscheduled due to the vicissitudes of severe 
                        weather; and
                            ``(III) in which overtime work is therefore 
                        unusually taxing.''.
    (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.

    Section 5546(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(a)'' and inserting ``(a)(1)''; and
            (2) 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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