[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 699]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR550.803]

[Page 526-527]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 550--PAY ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL)--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart H--Back Pay
 
Sec. 550.803  Definitions.

    In this subpart:
    Agency has the meaning given that term in section 5596(a) of title 
5, United States Code.
    Appropriate authority means an entity having authority in the case 
at hand to correct or direct the correction of an unjustified or 
unwarranted personnel action, including (a) a court, (b) the Comptroller 
General of the United States, (c) the Office of Personnel Management, 
(d) the Merit Systems Protection Board, (e) the Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission, (f) the Federal Labor Relations Authority and 
its General Counsel, (g) the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board, (h) 
the Foreign Service Grievance Board, (i) an arbitrator in a binding 
arbitration case, and (j) the head of the employing agency or another 
official of the employing agency to whom such authority is delegated.
    Collective bargaining agreement has the meaning given that term in 
section 7103(a)(8) of title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to 
members of the Foreign Service) in section 1002 of the Foreign Service 
Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4102(4)).

[[Page 527]]

    Employee means an employee of an agency. When the term employee is 
used to describe an individual who is making a back pay claim, it also 
may mean a former employee.
    Grievance has the meaning given that term in section 7103(a)(9) of 
title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to members of the Foreign 
Service) in section 1101 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 
4131). Such a grievance includes a grievance processed under an agency 
administrative grievance system, if applicable.
    Pay, allowances, and differentials means pay, leave, and other 
monetary employment benefits to which an employee is entitled by statute 
or regulation and which are payable by the employing agency to an 
employee during periods of Federal employment. Agency and employee 
contributions to a retirement investment fund, such as the Thrift 
Savings Plan, are not covered. Monetary benefits payable to separated or 
retired employees based upon a separation from service, such as 
retirement benefits, severance payments, and lump-sum payments for 
annual leave, are not covered.
    Unfair labor practice means an unfair labor practice described in 
section 7116 of title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to 
members of the Foreign Service) in section 1015 of the Foreign Service 
Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4115).
    Unjustified or unwarranted personnel action means an act of 
commission or an act of omission (i.e., failure to take an action or 
confer a benefit) that an appropriate authority subsequently determines, 
on the basis of substantive or procedural defects, to have been 
unjustified or unwarranted under applicable law, Executive order, rule, 
regulation, or mandatory personnel policy established by an agency or 
through a collective bargaining agreement. Such actions include 
personnel actions and pay actions (alone or in combination).

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 60 FR 47040, Sept. 11, 1995; 
64 FR 69178, Dec. 10, 1999]