Employment Law Report

Written by Brandon Girdley

On December 12, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an opinion addressing Congress’s delegation to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of rulemaking authority for overtime authorization. The case involved a federal employee who worked as a nurse for an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The employee alleged that the government had violated an overtime statute which obligated the government to pay for overtime “officially ordered or approved” by failing to pay registered nurses for overtime induced by their supervisors.

The court noted that the subject statute was silent as to the formalities required for authorizing overtime. Congress had delegated authority to OPM to fill in the gaps by prescribing regulations necessary to administer the overtime statute, including the requirement that overtime work be ordered or approved only in writing by an officer or employee to whom authority had been specifically delegated. The court ultimately held that Congress’s delegation of authority to OPM to promulgate the writing requirement was constitutional, and that OPM promulgated the writing requirement based on reasoned decision making within the boundaries of its delegated authority.

https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders/23-1823.OPINION.12-12-2025_2618923.pdf