Amending Rule On Firefighter Overtime Pay

Floor Speech

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Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the House Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, and as a strong supporter of this bill, I am pleased that the House will act today to advance H.R. 3243. The bill, introduced by Congressman JOHN SARBANES of Maryland, will allow federal fire fighters to trade shifts with each other, without triggering required overtime payments from their employing agencies. Notably, state and municipal fire fighters have long been able to swap shifts, or to exchange time, and still be paid according to the original work schedule. Such workplace flexibility aids in boosting employee morale and increases overall retention rates, without costing these local and state governments any additional money.

The Sarbanes bill simply amends title 5 by excluding trade time from the calculation of overtime pay for federal fire fighters. Clearly, it will still be up to the agency--such as the Department of Defense--to approve the request to switch schedules. The bill's enactment will actually save federal agencies money, because under current law, agencies must at times pay overtime for fill-in workers. However, under this legislation, these entities will now have employees voluntarily agreeing to work shifts without overtime being required.

Again, extending a small amount of scheduling flexibility to our federal fire fighters--that neither increases agency costs nor reduces manpower--is the right thing to do. Moreover, the bill's enactment will increase the attractiveness of federal fire fighters positions, that at present can actually go unfilled for as long as half a year.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all federal fire fighters as well as other fire fighters, including those recently combating the fires in the Salt Lake City suburbs, as well as my own fire fighters from Boston Local 718.

I also want to express my appreciation to Chairman TOWNS for his unwavering commitment to extending workplace flexibilities to all federal workers--regardless of whether they are white collar desk workers or shift workers such as our federal fire fighters.

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