Whistleblowers Help Cut $100 Million of Waste at Department of Homeland Security

In a memo released today, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sent its findings on recent efforts to address widespread misuse of millions of taxpayer dollars that had resulted from the abuse of the “administratively uncontrollable overtime” (AUO) system within Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to President Obama.

Several whistleblowers from DHS stepped forward over the past two years making disclosures, which resulted in reforms in the use of AUO. “Administratively uncontrollable overtime” is only for employees whose hours cannot be controlled and are often unpredictable, such as border patrol agents who must respond to criminal activity along the border, even if that means staying on duty beyond normal hours. However, as a 2013 Washington Post report detailed, DHS’s Customs and Border Protection employees used AUO to pad their pay, sometimes adding up to 25 percent to their wages.

In response to the whistleblower disclosures, Congress and DHS took action last year to reform and largely replace DHS’s outdated AUO system. For example, in 2014, by removing employees’ eligibility for AUO payments, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reduced its biweekly overtime payment by $3.2 million – an annual savings of $83.7 million. In addition, in December 2014, Congress passed the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act, which is estimated to save $100 million a year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“I applaud the government’s collective response to the long-standing problem of overtime pay abuse through the AUO system. After years of inaction, the entrenched AUO problem is now on a path toward resolution,” said Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner. “It’s important to recognize that if the whistleblowers had not stepped forward, this waste of taxpayer funds would never have been corrected.”

Read the OSC’s memo:

DHS Whistleblower Disclosures on Misuse of Overtime Pay Generate $100 Million in Annual Cost Savings