President Trump has signed into law a bill that will allow Secret Service employees who have exceeded the legislative pay cap to get paid for their lost overtime hours.
The Secret Service Recruitment and Retention Act of 2018 (H.R. 3731) was signed into law on Tuesday. It raises the statutory pay cap for protective services to Level II of the Executive Schedule for CYs 2017 and 2018 for “any officer, employee, or agent employed by the United States Secret Service.” The Level II salary of the Executive Schedule is currently $189,600 for 2018.
The Secret Service reports more than 1,000 agents – a third of the agent workforce – had already “maxed out” their annual overtime and salary under the pay cap set forth in 5 U.S.C. § 5547, which prohibits agents from being paid for overtime after reaching the maximum annual salary for the pay rate of GS-15.
The passage of the bill into law fully compensates these employees who worked overtime hours well beyond the previously legislated pay cap in 2017 and provides the same authorization to pay employees who exceed the pay cap in 2018.
Congressman John Katko (R-NY) sponsored the bill. In a statement at the time it was introduced, he said:
The men and women of the Secret Service deserve to be paid for the hours they work, period. They put their lives on the line every day and make tremendous personal sacrifices for our country. We cannot expect the Secret Service to recruit and retain the best of the best if they are not being compensated for the additional work that is demanded of them.
The funding for the new law was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Omnibus).
