[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E9331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' OVERTIME PAY LIMITATION 
                         AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1999

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                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 1999

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, along with my colleagues, Representatives 
Davis and Morella, I am pleased to introduce the Federal Employees' 
Overtime Pay Limitation Amendments Act of 1999.
  The overtime cap for federal managers and supervisors has not changed 
for thirty years. Under current law, their overtime pay is limited to 
that given to a General Schedule level 10 step 1 employee. As the 
result, managers and supervisors, the majority of whom rank above that 
level, earn less on overtime than they do for work performed during the 
regular work week.
  When this issue was raised at a civil service reform hearing last 
year, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 
testified that the cap was unfair and warranted looking into. My 
response was, ``When are you going to look into it.'' Like the rest of 
us, federal managers and supervisors only have their kids and families 
for a certain amount of time. They deserve to be fairly compensated so 
that they can adequately provide for their loved ones. They want to 
send their kids to college, they want to give them violin lessons, they 
want to move into a new house, and if we wait 10 to 15 years, then they 
have missed out on a whole lot of life.
  Representatives Davis and Morella, and I kept the pressure on OPM 
until it drafted overtime legislation to address this issue. It is this 
legislation that I am pleased to introduce today. The legislation would 
change existing law so that no federal employee would receive less than 
his or her hourly rate of pay for overtime work.
  Please join me by cosponsoring this legislation for federal managers 
and supervisors and their families.

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