Split decision settles decades-long debate over verbal overtime orders for federal HR
Federal agencies must get overtime approvals in writing, a closely divided appeals court ruled December 12, reaffirming a requirement that has governed federal workplaces for two decades.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld an 80-year-old regulation requiring written documentation for federal employee overtime, even though the statute itself never mentions anything about putting it on paper. The 7-4 decision settles a question that has vexed government HR departments and sparked countless disputes: Can a supervisor verbally tell an employee to work overtime, or does it have to be in writing?
The case started with Jillian Lesko, a registered nurse at the Indian Health Service during the pandemic. She worked eight months caring for patients when, according to her lawsuit, nurses were pushed to their breaking point and routinely told to stay late without pay. After she resigned, Lesko sued for unpaid overtime on behalf of herself and other IHS nurses in similar situations.
The problem was she never got written approval for any of that extra work. Federal regulations have required written overtime authorization since 1945, just four days after Congress passed the law creating overtime pay for government workers. But the statute only says overtime must be "officially ordered or approved" without saying how that order or approval should happen.
Lower courts tossed her case,...
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