SUBCHAPTER V-PREMIUM PAY § 5541. Definitions For the purpose of this subchapter (1) "agency" means (A) an Executive agency; (B) a military department; (C) an agency in the judicial branch; (E) the Botanic Garden; (F) the Office of the Architect of the Capitol; and (G) the government of the District of Columbia; and (2) "employee" means (A) an employee in or under an Executive agency; (B) an individual employed by the government of the District of Columbia; and (C) an employee in or under the judicial branch, the Library of Congress, the Botanic Garden, and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, who occupies a position subject to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of this title; but does not include (i) a justice or judge of the United States; (ii) the head of an agency other than the government of the District of Columbia; (iii) a teacher, school official, or employee of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, whose pay is fixed under chapter 15 of title 31, District of Columbia Code; (iv) a member of the Metropolitan Police, the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, the United States Park Police, or the Executive Protection Service; (v) a student-employee as defined by section 5351 of this title; (vi) Repealed. Pub. L. 91-375, § 6(c) (16), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 776; (vii) an employee outside the continental United States or in Alaska who is paid in accordance with local native prevailing wage rates for the area in which employed; (viii) an employee of the Tennessee Valley Authority; (ix) an individual to whom section 1291(a) of title 50, appendix, applies; (x) an employee of a Federal land bank, a Federal intermediate credit bank, on a bank for cooperatives; (xi) an employee whose pay is fixed and adjusted from time to time in accordance with prevailing rates under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of this title, or by a wage board or similar administrative authority serving the same purpose, except as provided by section 5544 of this title; (xii) an employee of the Transportation Corps of the Army on a vessel operated by the United States, a vessel employee of the Environmental Science Services Administration, a vessel employee of the Department of the Interior, or a vessel employee of the Panama Canal Commission; (xiii) a "teacher" or an individual holding a "teaching position" as defined by section 901 of title 20; (xiv) a Foreign Service officer; (xv) a member of the Senior Foreign Service; or (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 485, amended Pub. L. 90-83. (a) For full-time, part-time and intermittent tours of duty, hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 hours in an administrative workweek, or (with the exception of an employee engaged in professional or technical engineering or scientific activities for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek and an employee whose basic pay exceeds the minimum rate for GS-10 for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative workweek is the basic workweek) in excess of 8 hours in a day, performed by an employee are overtime work and shall be paid for, except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, at the following rates: (1) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay. (2) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-half times the hourly rate of the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, and all that amount is premium pay. (3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection for an employee of the Department of Transportation who occupies a nonmanagerial position in GS-14 or under and, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation, (A) the duties of which are critical to the immediate daily operation of the air traffic control system, directly affect aviation safety, and involve physical or mental strain or hardship; (B) in which overtime work is therefore unusually taxing; and (C) in which operating requirements cannot be met without substantial overtime work; the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and onehalf times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, and all that amount is premium pay. (b) For the purpose of this subchapter (1) unscheduled overtime work performed by an employee on a day when work was not scheduled for him, or for which he is required to return to his place of employment, is deemed at least 2 hours in duration; and (2) time spent in a travel status away from the official duty station of an employee is not hours of employment unless (A) the time spent is within the days and hours of the regularly scheduled administrative workweek of the employee, including regularly scheduled overtime hours; or (B) the travel (i) involves the performance of work while traveling, (ii) is incident to travel that involves the performance of work while traveling, (iii) is carried out under arduous conditions, or (iv) results from an event which could not be scheduled or controlled administratively. (Pub. L. 89-544, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 485, amended Pub. L. 90-83, §1(24), Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 200; Pub. L. 90-206, § 222(a), Dec. 16, 1967, 81 Stat. 641; Pub. L. 90-556, § 1, Oct. 10, 1968, 82 Stat. 969; Pub. L. 92-194, § 1, Dec. 15, 1971, 85 Stat. 648.) § 5543. Compensatory time off (a) The head of an agency may (1) on request of an employee, grant the employee compensatory time off from his scheduled tour of duty instead of payment for an equal amount of time spent in irregular or occasional overtime work; and (2) provide that an employee whose rate of basic pay is in excess of the maximum rate of basic pay for GS-10 shall be granted compensatory time off from his scheduled tour of duty equal to the amount of time spent in irregular or occasional overtime work instead of being paid for that work under section 5542 of this title. (b) The Architect of the Capitol may grant an employee paid on an annual basis compensatory time off from duty instead of overtime pay for overtime work. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 486, amended Pub. L. 90-83, § 1 (25), Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 200.) § 5544. Wage-board overtime and Sunday rates; computation (a) An employee whose pay is fixed and adjusted from time to time in accordance with prevailing rates under section 5343 or 5349 of this title, or by a wage board or similar administrative authority serving the same purpose, is entitled to overtime pay for overtime work in excess of 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. However, an employee subject to this subsection who regularly is required to remain at or within the confines of his post of duty in excess of 8 hours a day in a standby or on-call status is entitled to overtime pay only for hours of duty, exclusive of eating and sleeping time, in excess of 40 a week. The overtime hourly rate of pay is computed as follows: (1) If the basic rate of pay of the employee is fixed on a basis other than an annual or monthly basis, multiply the basic hourly rate of pay by not less than one and one-half. (2) If the basic of pay of the employee is fixed on an annual basis, divide the basic annual rate of pay by 2,080, and multiply the quotient by one and one-half. (3) If the basic rate of pay of the employee is fixed on a monthly basis, multiply the basic monthly rate of pay by 12 to derive a basic annual rate of pay, divide the basic annual rate of pay by 2,080, and multiply the quotient by one and one-half. An employee subject to this subsection whose regular work schedule includes an 8-hour period of service a part of which is on Sunday is entitled to an additional pay at the rate of 25 percent of his hourly rate of basic pay for each hour of work performed during that 8-hour period of service. Time spent in a travel status away from the official duty station of an employee subject to this subsection is not hours of work unless the travel (i) involves the performance of work while traveling, (ii) is incident to travel that involves the performance of work while traveling, (iii) is carried out under arduous conditions, or (iv) results from an event which could not be scheduled or controlled administratively. (b) An employee under the Office of the Architect of the Capitol who is paid on a daily or hourly basis and who is not subject to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of this title is entitled to overtime pay for overtime work in accordance with subsection (a) of this section. The overtime hourly rate of pay is computed in accordance with subsection (a)(1) of this section. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 486, amended Pub. L. 90-83, § 1(26) (A), Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 200; Pub. L. 90-206, § 222 (d), Dec. 16, 1967, 81 Stat. 641; Pub. L. 92–392, § 5, Aug. 19, 1972, 86 Stat. 573.) § 5545. Night, standby, irregular, and hazardous duty differential (a) Except as provided by subsection (b) of this section, nightwork is regularly scheduled work between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6: 0 a.m., and includes (1) periods of absence with pay during these hours due to holidays; and (2) periods of leave with pay during these hours if the periods of leave with pay during a pay period total less than 8 hours. Except as otherwise provided by subsection (c) of this section, an employee is entitled to pay for nightwork at his rate of basic pay plus premium pay amounting to 10 percent of that basic rate. This subsection and subsection (b) of this section do not modify section 180 of title 31, or other statute authorizing additional pay for nightwork. (b) The head of an agency may designate a time after 6:00 p.m. and a time before 6:00 a.m. as the beginning and end, respectively, of nightwork for the purpose of subsection (a) of this section, at a post outside the United States where the customary hours of business extend into the hours of nightwork provided by subsection (a) of this section. (c) The head of an agency, with the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, may provide that (1) an employee in a position requiring him regularly to remain at, or within the confines of, his station during longer than ordinary periods of duty, a substantial part of which consists of remaining in a standby status rather than performing work, shall receive premium pay for this duty on an annual basis instead of premium pay provided by other provisions of this subchapter, except for irregular, unscheduled overtime duty in excess of his regularly scheduled weekly tour. Premium pay under this paragraph is determined as an appropriate percentage, not in excess of 25 percent, of such part of the rate of basic pay for the position as does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10 (or, for a position described in section 5542 (a) (3) of this title, of the basic pay of the position), by taking into consideration the number of hours of actual work required in the position, the number of hours required in a standby status at or within the confines of the station, the extent to which the duties of the position are made more onerous by night, Sunday, or holiday work, or by being extended over periods of more than 40 hours a week, and other relevant factors; or (2) an employee in a position in which the hours of duty cannot to be controlled administratively, and which requires substantial amounts of irregular, unscheduled, overtime duty with the employee generally being responsible for recognizing, without supervision, circumstances which require him to remain on duty, shall receive premium pay for this duty on an annual basis instead of premium pay provided by other provisions of this subchapter, except for regularly scheduled overtime, night, and Sunday duty, and for holiday duty. Premium pay under this paragraph is determined as an appropriate percentage, not less than 10 percent nor more than 25 percent, of such part of the rate of basic pay for the position as does not exceed the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10, by taking into consideration the frequency and duration of irregular unscheduled overtime duty required in the position. (d) The Office shall establish a schedule or schedules of pay differentials for irregular or intermittent duty involving unusual physical hardship or hazard. Under such regulations as the Office may prescribe, and for such minimum periods as it determines appropriate, an employee to whom chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of this title applies is entitled to be paid the appropriate differential for any period in which he is subjected to physical hardship or hazard not usually involved in carrying out the duties of his position. However, the pay differential (1) does not apply to an employee in a position the classification of which takes into account the degree of physical hardship or hazard involved in the performance of the duties thereof; and (2) may not exceed an amount equal to 25 percent of the rate of basic pay applicable to the employee. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 487, amended Pub. L. 90–83, §1 (27), Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 200; Pub. L. 90-206, § 217, Dec. 16, 1967, 81 Stat. 638; Pub. L. 90–556, § 2, Oct. 10, 1968, 82 Stat. 969; Pub. L. 91-231, § 8, Apr. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 198; Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224; Pub. L. 96-54, Aug. 14, 1979, 93 Stat. 383.) |