The whole "Comp time" and overtime thing is the one feature of government work that has boggled my mind.
I haven't done anything with the Fed, but I have made applications for local government that they used to track employees who switch off with each other to maximize their overtime.
Say I am a clinical worker at a mental health facility where it is essential that there always be someone on duty. I can do a deal with my compatriots where I agree to call in sick a few times one week, thereby making it necessary that others work overtime. In exchange, the other employees call in sick the next week and you earn overtime.
As overtime is time and a half, either in pay or in comp time, it can really add up. Of course, seeing as how government is a zero-sum thing where the budget is concerned, it's unlikely that they will get away with it for long if they demand money. If they take the comp time though, they seem to be able to get away with it almost indefinitely.
mk | 02.07.08 - 10:28 am | #

you almost feel stupid for not getting a government job. almost.
Rob | Homepage | 02.07.08 - 11:11 am | #

I saw this article. I didn't read the linked version, but in the hard copy, the article ended with a government employee saying something to the effect of "This discrepancy exists because private employers aren't paying good enough salary and benefits. They're moving in the wrong direction."

Yeah, either that or the fact that government pensions are not subject to the same funding and accounting rules that govern private pensions. While companies are realizing that they can't fund these long term liabilities and are cutting back, governments don't have any boundaries in terms of promising future benefits.

"Who cares? China will finance this irresponsible spending, and I'll be dead by the time the bill comes due. Gotta get mine!"
guy | 02.07.08 - 11:17 am | #

A fact I forgot to mention is that when gov't employees retire, they get a lump payment for all of all the sick day they did not take. In the private sector those days, rightly, are lost when you do not take them. Getting paid for sick days not taken is a boondagle.
Leonardo | 02.07.08 - 7:35 pm | #

Leonardo, federal employees do not get a lump sum for their sick days, I can't speak for various state and local. However, the sick days do count partially towards pension benefits as days of service. There is a scam becoming more common though whereby an employee decides to retire and then uses all available sick leave caring for a "sick" relative, like a old parent or something. Once the leave runs out they retire. Similar but not quite like taking a lump sum since it involves more time and usually fraud.
z | 02.07.08 - 8:28 pm | #