I
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 serv-
ices 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 Com-
mittee on Government Reform
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for appro-
priate overtime pay for National Weather Service fore-
casters performing essential services during severe weath-
er events, and to limit Sunday premium pay for employ-
ees of the National Weather Service to hours of service
actually performed on Sunday.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives 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 follow-
ing:
‘‘(5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of
this subsection, for an employee of the National
Weather Service who occupies a nonmanagerial posi-
tion 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 un-
scheduled 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 pre-
mium 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 per-
formed 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.
Æ