[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 699]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR550.153]

[Page 503]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 550--PAY ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL)--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart A--Premium Pay
 
Sec. 550.153  Bases for determining positions for which premium pay under Sec. 550.151 is authorized.

    (a) The requirement in Sec. 550.151 that a position be one in which 
the hours of duty cannot be controlled administratively is inherent in 
the nature of such a position. A typical example of a position which 
meets this requirement is that of an investigator of criminal activities 
whose hours of duty are governed by what criminals do and when they do 
it. He is often required to perform such duties as shadowing suspects, 
working incognito among those under suspicion, searching for evidence, 
meeting informers, making arrests, and interviewing persons having 
knowledge of criminal or alleged criminal activities. His hours on duty 
and place of work depend on the behavior of the criminals or suspected 
criminals and cannot be controlled administratively. In such a 
situation, the hours of duty cannot be controlled by such administrative 
devices as hiring additional personnel; rescheduling the hours of duty 
(which can be done when, for example, a type of work occurs primarily at 
certain times of the day); or granting compensatory time off duty to 
offset overtime hours required.
    (b) In order to satisfactorily discharge the duties of a position 
referred to in Sec. 550.151, an employee is required to perform 
substantial amounts of irregular or occasional overtime work. In regard 
to this requirement:
    (1) A substantial amount of irregular or occasional overtime work 
means an average of at least 3 hours a week of that overtime work.
    (2) The irregular or occasional overtime work is a continual 
requirement, generally averaging more than once a week.
    (3) There must be a definite basis for anticipating that the 
irregular or occasional overtime work will continue over an appropriate 
period with a duration and frequency sufficient to meet the minimum 
requirements under paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section.
    (c) The words in Sec. 550.151 that an employee is generally 
``responsible for recognizing, without supervision, circumstances which 
require him to remain on duty'' mean that:
    (1) The responsibility for an employee remaining on duty when 
required by circumstances must be a definite, official, and special 
requirement of his position.
    (2) The employee must remain on duty not merely because it is 
desirable, but because of compelling reasons inherently related to 
continuance of his duties, and of such a nature that failure to carry on 
would constitute negligence.
    (3) The requirement that the employee is responsible for recognizing 
circumstances does not include such clear-cut instances as, for example, 
when an employee must continue working because a relief fails to report 
as scheduled.
    (d) The words ``circumstances which require him to remain on duty'' 
as used in Sec. 550.151 mean that:
    (1) The employee is required to continue on duty in continuation of 
a full daily tour of duty or that after the end of his regular workday, 
the employee resumes duty in accordance with a prearranged plan or an 
awaited event. Performance of only call-back overtime work referred to 
in Sec. 550.112(h) does not meet this requirement.
    (2) The employee has no choice as to when or where he may perform 
the work when he remains on duty in continuation of a full daily tour of 
duty. This differs from a situation in which an employee has the option 
of taking work home or doing it at the office; or doing it in 
continuation of his regular hours of duty or later in the evening. It 
also differs from a situation in which an employee has such latitude in 
his working hours, as when in a travel status, that he may decide to 
begin work later in the morning and continue working later at night to 
better accomplish a given objective.

[33 FR 12458, Sept. 4, 1968, as amended at 35 FR 6311, Apr. 18, 1970; 64 
FR 69175, Dec. 10, 1999]

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