Washington, D.C. 20530

December 30, 2003

MEMORANDUM FOR BUREAU HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICERS

Enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136, November 24, 2003) has resulted in changes to certain pay and leave provisions affecting Federal employees. The attached memorandum from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) describes in detail the changes, and identifies the provisions of the law which apply to them. Matters covered in the OPM memorandum which may concern Department employees include topics such as military leave for mobilized Federal civilian employees, modification of the overtime hourly pay cap, higher caps on student loan repayments, Senior Executive Service pay, and Federal flexible benefits plan administrative costs. Some of the changes enacted may affect significant numbers of Department employees

In particular, the law amends 5 U.S.C. 6323(b) to provide that employees who perform full time military service as a result of a call or order to active duty in support of a contingency operation (as defined in 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13)) are entitled to 22 days of military leave each calendar year, in addition to the 15 days of military leave to which they are already entitled in each fiscal year. The military pay the employee receives for the 22 days under this provision must be credited against any Federal civilian pay the employee received for that period, as described by OPM. An employee is entitled to the greater of his or her civilian or military pay, but not both, when using the 22 days of military leave authorized. However, if the employee chooses to use annual leave in place of military leave, he or she may keep both the military and the civilian pay. This provision applies to military service performed on or after November 24, 2003.

OPM has amended the fact sheet on military leave and the questions and answers concerning military leave administration found on their web site to reflect the new provisions concerning the 22 additional days of military leave. Your staff may access the fact sheet at http://www.opm.gov/oca/LEAVE/HTML/MILITARY.ASP and the questions and answers at http://www.opm.gov/oca/LEAVE/HTML/MILQA.asp. Copies of these pages from the OPM web site are attached. The changes in military leave administration affect employees in all Department components who are eligible to accrue and use military leave and who meet the criteria for entitlement to the additional military leave benefit. The new provisions became effective on November 24, 2003. In addition to OPM’s guidance, the Justice Management Division (JMD), Human Resources Systems Administration Group (HRSAG) has disseminated to payroll offices and timekeepers information from the National Finance Center (NFC) on how this new entitlement should be documented and administered.

Another provision of the legislation which may affect a significant number of Department employees is the modification of the overtime hourly pay cap. This provision applies to employees who are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, as amended, and is effective as of November 24, 2003. FLSA-exempt employees who are entitled to receive overtime pay under 5 U.S.C. 5542(a)(2) receive as their hourly rate of overtime pay the greater of (1) one and one half times the hourly rate of the basic pay for GS-10 (including any applicable special salary rate, locality rate of pay, or special pay adjustment for law enforcement officers), or (2) the employee’s own hourly rate of basic pay (including any applicable special salary rate, locality rate of pay, or special pay adjustment for law enforcement officers). Please ensure that proper payments to employees affected by this change are made as of November 24, 2003. OPM will be amending its regulations to reflect the change; however, agencies need not wait for the revised regulations to implement the pay change.

Please carefully review all the changes explained by OPM to determine what other provisions may apply to your employees, and when they are effective. While some provisions are effective as of the enactment date of the law, November 24, 2003, others will not be implemented until OPM has issued regulations.

Members of your staff who have questions concerning these matters may contact the following members of the Personnel Staff’s Workforce Effectiveness Group: Margaret Foskey on leave administration and Jamie Higgins on pay and compensation. Ms. Foskey may be reached on (202) 616-3713, and Ms. Higgins may be reached on (202) 514-5781. Employees who have questions about this information should be referred to knowledgeable staff members in their servicing human resources offices.

Attachments

• OPM Memorandum on Recent Legislative Changes


• OPM Military Leave Fact Sheet


• OPM Questions and Answers on Military Leave

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