Postal Service Needs To Strengthen Controls Over Employee Overtime

GAO reported on the Postal Service's need to improve overtime controls.

At the six postal facilities it reviewed, GAO found that overtime payments cost about $4.2 million dollars. Management's effort to meet its own overtime estimates was often a primary consideration when allowing overtime rather than determining whether a need for additional work was present. GAO noted that a substantial amount of overtime had been retroactively approved due to supervisors' failure to control employee work schedules. GAO found that at five of the facilities it visited the Postal Service paid an estimated $470,000 for overtime hours that had not been authorized because overtime entered into the system was automatically paid unless expressly disallowed and because supervisors did not disallow unnecessary overtime requests. GAO concluded that, although overtime provides management with manpower flexibility, improper use results in unnecessary costs.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: James G. Mitchell Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 275-8676