Customs Service: 1911 Act Governing Overtime Is Outdated
GGD-91-96
Published: Jun 14, 1991. Publicly Released: Jun 14, 1991.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the U.S. Customs Service's use of inspectional overtime.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should reevaluate the basis for computing premium pay for Customs inspectors and make such revisions in the 1911 Act governing overtime as are necessary to ensure that hours paid bear a more direct relationship to hours worked. |
Closed – Implemented
|
Congress revised the 1911 Act governing overtime as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to improve internal controls over the administration of overtime by reviewing procedures at ports, districts, and regions and the National Finance Center to ensure they comply with Customs directives and internal controls standards. |
Closed – Implemented
Customs initiated quarterly reports between field activities and headquarters, and conducted field audits (14 ports were audited in 1993 by headquarters). Close watch was kept on port, district and region expenditures on overtime. Headquarters sent quarterly reports to each region discussing ports and districts and requesting additional information on specific locations when something seemed unusual. Customs has reorganized, and there are no longer districts or regions. Under COPRA, ports make requests for overtime budgets just as they do for other budgeted activity. Headquarters requests justifications and evaluates each request.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to improve internal controls over the administration of overtime by requiring corrective action for, and routine followup on, the problems surfaced in peer review reports, and that the reports be distributed to headquarters as well as field management levels for appropriate action. |
Closed – Implemented
Headquarters required responses (and corrective action) from the field for problems surfaced in the quarterly reviews. Ports follow guidelines developed in partnership between Customs and the National Treasury Employees Union. These guidelines are published in the National Inspections Assignment Policy (NIAP). Certain provisions of NIAP are national, and certain specified provisions are negotiated locally.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to improve internal controls over the administration of overtime by reviewing duplicate payments to determine whether fraud or abuse were present and take any necessary disciplinary and recovery actions. |
Closed – Implemented
Customs found a small number of duplicate payments. Customs added new edits to the overtime system, including a calendar that prevents overlapping payments, requires online certification by supervisors, and verifies pro-rated assignments. One accomplishment report will be done for all recommendations.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to, as a minimum, more efficiently manage inspectional overtime by aggressively employing such techniques as shifts and staggered work hours to cover more of the work load within regular work hours. |
Closed – Implemented
Shifts are aligned with work load. Since the GAO report, this has been a standard by which all shifts are established. Previously, shifts might be from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and in some cases, other assignments are worked on overtime. Now shifts are established around the clock to coincide with the workload, and overtime is used to fill in the gaps.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to, as a minimum, more efficiently manage inspectional overtime by reimbursing overtime using the Federal Employees' Pay Act (FEPA) rates when assignments are continuations of assignments begun during regular hours and last less than 1 overtime hour. |
Closed – Not Implemented
Changes to the 1911 Act do not allow for FEPA pay rates for inspectional activities.
|
| Department of the Treasury | The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Commissioner of Customs to, as a minimum, more efficiently manage inspectional overtime by developing procedures that better ensure the most efficient use of callback assignments and that better match Sunday and holiday staffing to anticipated work load. |
Closed – Implemented
Callback assignments are discussed in the law and the regulations, and further explained in NIAP. The law prohibits Customs from paying callback when an overtime assignment begins less than an hour after a regular assignment or ends less than an hour before the beginning of a regular assignment.
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Topics
Cost analysisCustoms administrationFederal employeesFederal personnel lawFlexible work schedulesHoliday payInspectionInternal controlsOvertime compensationStaff utilizationData entry