Lawsuit Alleges U.S. Failed to Pay Overtime to Employees Supervising Unaccompanied Children During Operation Artemis

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The United States is the defendant in a proposed collective action that alleges it failed to pay overtime to federal civilian employees who took leave from their regular jobs in March 2021 to work up to 120 days for the Office of Refugee Resettlement at facilities for unaccompanied children. 

The nine-page suit in the Court of Federal Claims says that although the plaintiff’s ordinary job duties are exempt from overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a regulation issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stipulates that OT-exempt employees generally must be treated as non-exempt if they spend more than 30 days in a detail performing non-overtime exempt work. 

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Here, the lawsuit claims, the plaintiff and similarly situated individuals performed work, such as supervising children, that was outside any overtime-pay exemption to the FLSA. 

“Yet, in violation of [the law], the employees were given no overtime pay for work exceeding 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day,” the complaint claims. 

The plaintiff, a Detroit resident, was an attorney advisor for the Department of Justice when she was selected for detail for Operation Artemis, an effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to temporarily support the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at facilities for unaccompanied children, according to the suit. Per the case, the ORR’s unaccompanied children program provides housing, care and other services to children who enter the United States without immigration status and a parent or legal guardian who can provide for them. 

While working for Operation Artemis, detailees such as the plaintiff performed work, including running activities for, supervising and generally interacting with the children, that was not exempt from federal overtime pay requirements, the lawsuit argues. 

By law, the case relays, federal employees who serve as detailees and whose primary duties are not exempt from overtime pay during an emergency generally become “temporarily FLSA non-exempt,” even if they are normally exempt at their home agencies. 

Per the complaint, detailees were told in writing that they would be treated as non-exempt from overtime under the FLSA during their detail for Operation Artemis. The case says the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement was responsible for managing detailees’ overtime, and detailees’ home agencies were responsible for paying them while on detail. 

“However, HHS-ORR was supposed to reimburse agencies for all base pay, overtime, and premium pay incurred by employees while serving on detail,” the filing says. 

The plaintiff was required during Operation Artemis to work five to seven days per week for at least 10 hours per shift, the suit states. The attorney was paid for only 40 hours of work each week, regardless of how many hours she put in, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit looks to cover all individuals who worked for the United States as detailees during Operation Artemis and who did not receive overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours per week while on detail. 

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