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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
15-P-0293
September 22, 2015
Why We Did This Review
On April 9, 2014, a
U.S. Senator requested the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Office of
Inspector General (OIG) to
examine whether the agency:
(a)	properly documents how
overtime is distributed and, if so,
identify the process that is used;
(b)	has a specific breakdown of
activities for employees who
received overtime during the
last 2 fiscal years; and (c) has
an effective means to ensure
employees are not
compensated overtime for
travel. We conducted an audit to
address the Senator's request.
This report addresses the
following EPA goal or
cross-agency strategy:
• Embracing EPA as a high-
performing organization.
EPA Not Fully Compliant With
Overtime Policies
What We Found
The EPA has established policies that identify the
requirements and general process for the
authorization and approval of overtime
compensation. However, based on our limited
sample, the EPA did not always use the EPA
Form 2560-7, Request for Overtime
Authorization, for overtime requests and
authorization as required by EPA Pay
Administration Manual 3155. Even when the EPA
Form 2560-7 was prepared, overtime hours were not always approved in
advance and some overtime hours exceeded the authorized amounts. Also,
the EPA did not always maintain the forms in accordance with EPA records
management requirements. This occurred because management did not
provide sufficient oversight to ensure compliance with EPA policies pertaining
to overtime and records management.
EPA has established specific policies that address overtime during travel.
Employees can only be authorized overtime during travel when officially
ordered and approved, and our analysis did not disclose any instances where
employees requested compensation for overtime during travel.
Recommendation and Planned Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Deputy Administrator ensure management and
employees comply with EPA overtime policies, use EPA Form 2560-7, obtain
advance approval for overtime hours, and follow EPA records management
policies. The agency agreed with our recommendation and provided
acceptable corrective actions with estimated completion dates.
The EPA may have
incurred overtime
charges without
proper authorization
and advance approval,
and did not maintain
overtime request
forms as required.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oia.
The full report is at:
www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2015/
20150922-15-P-0293.pdf

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