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Frequently Asked Questions About Hazardous Duty Pay For Federal Employees

Based on letters and phone calls, the Office of Personnel Managment's Office of Compensation Policy prepared selected questions and answers dealing with pay, leave, and hours of work. These will be updated as circumstances warrant and may be referenced on OPM's "What's Hot." If you require further information on any of the covered subjects, we request that you first consult the applicable regulations and/or appropriate personnel officials or specialists in your own agency. Of course, agency headquarters personnel policy staff may contact the Office of Compensation Policy directly, using established points of contact.

Hazardous Duty Pay

Q - Who can receive hazardous duty pay?

A - 5 U.S.C. 5545(d) provides that if an employee is covered by chapter 51 (Classification) and subchapter III of chapter 53 (General Schedule Pay Rates) of title 5, United States Code, then he or she may be eligible to receive hazardous duty pay. To receive hazardous duty pay, a General Schedule (GS) employee must also meet the requirements in 5 CFR 550.904.

(Note: Prevailing rate (wage) employees may be eligible to receive environmental differential pay under the separate provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5343(c)(4).)

Q - Can title 38 employees receive hazardous duty pay?

A - Some title 38 employees are not covered by chapter 51 and are classified under the title 38 qualification-based grading system. Such employees are not covered by the hazardous duty pay authority.

Q - Where are the hazard pay differentials established?

A - Appendix A of 5 CFR part 550, subpart I (as provided by 5 CFR 550.903(a)).

Q - Can an employee be paid hazardous duty pay for performing a type of duty not listed under appendix A of 5 CFR part 550, subpart I?

A - No. 5 U.S.C. 5545(d) requires the Office of Personnel Management to establish a schedule or schedules of hazard duty differentials and to prescribe regulations governing payment of the differentials. If a duty or type of work is not listed in appendix A, the employee cannot be paid a hazard duty differential.

Q - Who can establish a hazard pay differential?

A - Amendments to appendix A may be made by OPM on its own motion or at the request of an agency, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5102(a)(1). (See 5 CFR 550.903(b).) The request for a hazard pay differential must be made by the head of an agency or an official who has been delegated the authority to act for the head of the agency in the matter concerned.

Q - What information are agencies required to submit with requests to amend appendix A?

A - 5 CFR 550.903(b) requires agencies to submit the following information with their amendment request:

  1. the nature of the duty;
  2. the degree to which the employee is exposed to the hazard or physical hardship;
  3. the length of time during which the duty will continue to exist;
  4. the degree to which control may be exercised over the hazard or physical hardship; and
  5. the estimated annual cost to the agency if the request is approved.

Q - What additional information does OPM typically ask agencies to submit with requests to amend appendix A?

A - OPM typically asks agencies to submit the following information with amendment requests, as applicable:

  1. a detailed description of the hazardous duty or physical hardship (i.e., explain what causes the hazard);
  2. specific wording of the proposed category (as it would appear in appendix A), including the threshold for payment and the recommended percentage to be paid;
  3. information on ways to mitigate the hazard (e.g., training, use of safety procedures and equipment);
  4. information on the measures the agency has taken to practically eliminate the hazard;
  5. an explanation of why the hazard is "unusual;"
  6. information on Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards or other published material on safety for the work situation. Information on how the agency will determine whether the hazard is reduced to a less than significant level;
  7. descriptions of and statistics on actual accidents or injuries that have occurred because of exposure to the hazard or physical hardship;
  8. information on when a decision is made not to expose an employee to the hazard or physical hardship;
  9. information about other Federal agencies that may be affected by such a category;
  10. information on Federal Wage System employees in the agency that may be exposed to the hazard or physical hardship in the same manner; and
  11. whether and in what manner the hazard has affected the classification of the position.

Q - Can OPM provide some examples of the reasons proposed categories have been denied in the past?

A - OPM has denied requests for new hazardous duty pay categories when--

  1. the duties would involve remote or potential hazards rather than present or actual hazards--i.e., when the duty is not inherently hazardous and an accident or injury is unlikely;
  2. adequate safeguards would reduce the risk to a less than significant level;
  3. overseas post differentials already compensate or take into account the hardships and hazards encountered in overseas assignments, such as presence in a war zone;
  4. the risk of exposure to the hazard is not directly connected with the performance of assigned duties;
  5. the hazard would not be "unusual" and would be hard to distinguish from the ongoing hazards that are inherent in the job; or
  6. the hazardous duty or physical hardship is already listed in appendix A.

Q - Explain the changes OPM made in the regulations in 1991 concerning taking a hazard into account in the classification of the position.

A - 5 CFR 550.904 allows an agency to approve payment of hazardous duty pay when the hazardous duty or physical hardship has not been taken into account in the classification of the position (i.e., the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the duty are not considered in the classification of the position). If the hazardous duty has been taken into account in the classification of the position, an agency may authorize payment of hazardous duty pay only when the actual circumstances of the specific hazard or physical hardship have changed from that taken into account and described in the position description; and, when using the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the position and described in the position description, the employee cannot control the hazard or physical hardship; thus, the risk is not reduced to a less than significant level.

Q - Can an employee be paid hazardous duty pay for voluntarily performing a hazardous duty listed in appendix A?

A - Hazardous duty pay may be paid only to employees who are assigned hazardous duties or duties involving physical hardship for which a differential is authorized. It may not be paid to an employee who undertakes to perform a hazardous duty on his or her own, without proper authorization, either expressed or implied. (5 CFR 550.904(a))

Q - If an employee performs a hazardous duty (as listed in appendix A) for a hour during the work shift, does he or she receive the hazard pay differential for only that hour?

A - No. When an employee performs a duty for which a hazard pay differential is authorized, the agency must pay the hazard pay differential for all of the hours in which the employee is in a pay status on the day on which the duty is performed. (5 CFR 550.905)

Q - What is the maximum amount of hazardous duty pay an employee may receive?

A - An employee may receive no more than 25 percent of his or her rate of basic pay. (5 U.S.C. 5545(d)(2))

Q - May an employee be paid hazardous duty pay for a hazard or physical hardship encountered on the way to work?

A - No. Hazardous duty pay is paid only for the hours in which the employee is in a pay status on the day on which the hazardous duty is performed. (5 CFR 550.905)

Q - May an employee receive hazardous duty pay during overtime hours?

A - Yes, because an employee is in a pay status during overtime hours. However, the hazardous duty pay is computed on the employee's hourly rate of basic pay, not his or her hourly overtime rate. (5 CFR 550.905 and 5 U.S.C. 5545(d)(2))

Q - Can hazardous duty pay be paid during hours of paid leave?

A - Yes, if a hazardous duty is performed on a day on which paid leave is taken. For example, if an employee performs a hazardous duty for 1 hour and then takes annual leave for the 7 hours remaining in his or her workday, the employee is paid hazardous duty pay for the entire 8-hour workday. (5 CFR 550.905)

Q - May hazardous duty pay be paid for periods of leave without pay?

A - No. Hazardous duty pay may only be paid while an employee is in a pay status. (5 CFR 550.905)

Q - Is hazardous duty pay included in the aggregate limitation on pay?

A - Yes. Hazardous duty pay is included in the aggregate limitation on pay (5 U.S.C. 5307), which limits an employee's aggregate compensation to the rate payable for level I of the Executive Schedule at the end of a calendar year. (See the definition of "aggregate compensation" in 5 CFR 530.202(4).)

Q - May an employee receiving annual premium pay (for regularly scheduled standby duty or administratively uncontrollable overtime work), or a criminal investigator receiving availability pay, receive hazardous duty pay?

A - 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) & (2) authorize the payment of annual premium pay for regularly scheduled standby duty and administratively uncontrollable overtime work, and 5 U.S.C. 5545a(c) authorizes availability pay, instead of some other types of premium pay, including hazardous duty pay. Thus, hazardous duty pay may not be paid for hours of work for which an employee is paid these types of premium pay.

Q - Is hazardous duty pay included in the biweekly maximum limitation on premium pay?

A - No. The limitation on premium pay in 5 U.S.C. 5547(a) does not include hazardous duty pay.

Q - What does "Do." mean, as listed in the "Effective Date" column of appendix A?

A - "Ditto."

Q - May employees who have been incidentally exposed to asbestos (i.e., not directly connected with their assigned duties) receive hazardous duty pay for asbestos?

A - No. As stated in the description of asbestos duty in appendix A, agencies may pay hazardous duty pay for asbestos when the risk of exposure is directly connected with the performance of assigned duties. Employees should not be paid hazardous duty pay after being exposed to asbestos (or any other hazard) when the exposure is not triggered by their job duties. It cannot be paid because of an accidental exposure.

Q - Why do the provisions for hazardous duty pay for white-collar employees and environmental differential pay for blue-collar employees have different rules and rates?

A - Hazardous duty pay and environmental differential pay have separate legal authorities. The authority for hazardous duty pay is found in 5 U.S.C. 5545(d). The legal authority for environmental differential pay is found in 5 U.S.C. 5343(c)(4).

Q - If a Federal Wage System (FWS) employee receiving environmental differential pay (EDP) moves to a GS position that involves the performance of the same duty that prompted the payment of EDP, may the employee receive hazardous duty pay?

A - Yes, as long as the hazardous duty is listed in appendix A and exposure to the hazard meets the requirements of 5 CFR 550.904, the employee may receive the percentage authorized in appendix A for the hazardous duty.

Q - If an employee who occupies an FWS position retains a GS grade and performs a duty listed in appendix A, is he or she entitled to hazardous duty pay?

A - Yes. By law (5 U.S.C. 5362(c)), the retained grade of an employee must be treated as the grade of the employee's position for all purposes, including pay setting and pay administration. Thus, the agency must pay the employee under the rules that apply to the General Schedule pay system during the grade retention period. This includes any hazard pay differential that is appropriate for a GS employee who performs the actual duties assigned to the employee (i.e., in this case, the FWS duties). The employee is not entitled to an environmental differential paid to wage employees during the period of GS grade retention.

Get help with Acrobat Reader

  • Appendix A to Subpart I of Part 550--Schedule of Pay Differentials Authorized for Hazardous Duty PDF formatted Document [122KB]


  • Appendix A to Subpart E of Part 532--Schedule of Environmental Differentials Paid for Exposure to Various Degrees of Hazards, Physical Hardships, and Working Conditions of an Unusual Nature PDF formatted Document [1.7MB]


  • Update - Appendix A to Subpart E of Part 532, April 27, 2005 PDF formatted Document [53KB]