In light of in tug boat fees going up at the Port Administration, employees in the Water Division of Port are hoping to see their overtime paid, which is something that the director of the Department of Human Resources says will not happen, due to the governor’s ban on OT and the government’s interpretation of a federal law exempting seamen from OT.

Last week, Samoa News reported that port fees for use of the government tug boats will go from $250 to $425 during regular hours and $300 to $510 for off hours on all ships and vessels entering and leaving the main dock.

Port Administration’s Water Division, which handles such services, has 24 employees who attend to all the deck work and man the tugboats. These employees, according to the wife of one employee, have not been compensated for their off hour work (OT) from last year, October 2013 until now.

Attempts to speak with the Water Division employees about this matter were met with ‘no comment’, citing their job security as the reason. Samoa News was told they are all career service employees that continue to work despite non-payment of their OT.

The woman, who wished not to be named, said that her husband used to bring home a decent pay check that was just sufficient for their survival, yet nowadays, due to the off-hours not being paid, they are struggling to make ends meet.

Samoa News was told by a Port official, who also did not wish to be named, that the previous administration paid the OT of the Water Division employees through charges to the shipping agencies for the overtime.

Samoa News points out these are the same complaints from employees at the Port Admin’s Airport Division.

Gov. Lolo M. Moliga is on record saying that OT should be handled by shift scheduling, allowing for more employees to be hired to work regular hours, rather than have OT happen for a few. Further, Samoa News understands OT fees are still being charged to aircraft and private sector companies which use airport services, i.e. agriculture, customs, etc. after hours.

Employees of the Port’s Water Division did tell Samoa News that “it was hard to leave the work undone, it is our duty… so pay or not, the work must be done so that services are maintained.”

Samoa News has also learned that for last week’s pay period, compensatory hours have shown up on the Water Division’s paychecks for the first time since the OT hours were stopped last October. The employees did not specify how many hours were compensated, or if all affected by the unpaid OT received them.

Efforts to reach the Port Director Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Poumele for comments were not immediately answered The Port director is currently off-island for meetings and will not return to the territory until Nov. 2.

The Director of the Department of Human Resources, Sonny Thompson told Samoa News in response to questions about the issue, “Because of the Governor’s reinforcement of the ban on overtime payments to all government employees, as well as the enforcement of [federal] labor laws pertaining to an ‘exemption of seamen overtime hours payment,’ the department stopped paying these employees their overtime.”

FEDERAL SEAMAN PROVISION

A provision of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempts bona-fide seaman employees from the mandatory payment of a 1/2 time premium for overtime hours worked. It also provides an explanation as to who is considered a “seaman”, includes members of the crew such as sailors, engineers, radio operators, firemen, pursers, and stewards. (See online version of this story for the USDOL link to the federal law.)

According to the USDOL, ‘seamen’ employed on U.S. Flagged vessels are still entitled to their minimum wage based on their industry of employment — rather than their specific activities — for all hours worked (as cited in minimum wage law for American Samoa).

USDOL’s Wage and Hour Division director for the Honolulu District Office, Terence J. Trotter told Samoa News yesterday that he will be in American Samoa next month for meetings, and is always ready to provide education on any topic that relates to Wage Hour programs.

He suggested that if employees or workers who have questions on whether the seaman exemption is applicable to their employment would like to discuss their entitlement to an overtime premium under the FLSA, please call the local USDOL investigator at 254-4585.

“It is important to note that there is typically a 2-year statute of limitations (under the FLSA) on the recovery of unpaid wages,” he said via email from Honolulu.

BACKGROUND

Samoa News should also point out that whether or not the OT is authorized, the government still has to pay it. The question becomes: How do you stop unauthorized OT? The answer is not easy, but could possibly involve firing employees who put in for OT, or firing supervisors or directors that allow the OT to happen, despite the administration’s policy — which by the way, was what senators said should happen during the Senate hearing about moving the government payroll over to the DHR, which ASG officials said was due to the OT problem.

Correspondent Fili Sagapolutele contributed to this report