H. L. Medler v. United States of America, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior

Plaintiffs-Appellants, power plant operators for the Bonneville Power Administration, brought this action against the United States, defendant-appellee, to establish their right to receive certain statutory percentage adjustments to their base pay for length of service (longevity pay) and for swing and graveyard shift work (differential pay). The district court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment. Appellants have appealed from the district court’s judgment.

Appellants are employees of the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau). The Bureau pays these employees on an hourly basis at a wage agreed upon in a collective bargaining agreement between the Bureau and the employees’ union. The agreement does not provide for either shift differential pay or longevity pay. The agreement does call for periodic supplementary agreements which set general working conditions and wages as negotiated by the parties.

In 1972, Congress passed the Government Employees — Prevailing Rate Systems Act, Pub.L. No. 92-392, 86 Stat. 564, (codified in 5 U.S.C. §§ 5341-5349 ). That law mandates that federal prevailing rate employees (hourly employees) have their base pay set at…