[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 199 (Tuesday, November 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S8274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4679. Mr. VAN HOLLEN submitted an amendment intended to be 
proposed to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be 
proposed to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
year 2022 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for 
military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of 
Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, 
and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as 
follows:

        At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ____. TREATMENT OF HOURS WORKED UNDER A QUALIFIED TRADE-
                   OF-TIME ARRANGEMENT.

       Section 5542 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:
       ``(h)(1)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     section or section 5545b, any hours worked by a firefighter 
     under a qualified trade-of-time arrangement shall be 
     disregarded for purposes of any determination relating to 
     eligibility for, or the amount of, any overtime pay under 
     this section, including overtime pay under the Fair Labor 
     Standards Act in accordance with subsection (c).
       ``(B) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management--
       ``(i) shall identify the situations in which a firefighter 
     shall be deemed to have worked hours actually worked by a 
     substituting firefighter under a qualified trade-of-time 
     arrangement; and
       ``(ii) may adopt necessary policies governing the treatment 
     of both a substituting and substituted firefighter under a 
     qualified trade-of-time arrangement, without regard to how 
     those firefighters would otherwise be treated under other 
     provisions of law or regulation.
       ``(2) In this subsection--
       ``(A) the term `firefighter' means an employee--
       ``(i) the work schedule of whom includes 24-hour duty 
     shifts; and
       ``(ii) who--
       ``(I) is a firefighter, as defined in section 8331(21) or 
     8401(14);
       ``(II) in the case of an employee who holds a supervisory 
     or administrative position and is subject to subchapter III 
     of chapter 83, but who does not qualify to be considered a 
     firefighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), would so 
     qualify if such employee had transferred directly to such 
     position after serving as a firefighter within the meaning of 
     such section;
       ``(III) in the case of an employee who holds a supervisory 
     or administrative position and is subject to chapter 84, but 
     who does not qualify to be considered a firefighter within 
     the meaning of section 8401(14), would so qualify if such 
     employee had transferred directly to such position after 
     performing duties described in section 8401(14)(A) and (B) 
     for at least 3 years; and
       ``(IV) in the case of an employee who is not subject to 
     subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84, holds a position 
     that the Office of Personnel Management determines would 
     satisfy subclause (I), (II), or (III) if the employee were 
     subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84; and
       ``(B) the term `qualified trade-of-time arrangement' means 
     an arrangement under which 2 firefighters who are subject to 
     the supervision of the same fire chief agree, solely at their 
     option and with the approval of the employing agency, to 
     substitute for one another during scheduled work hours in the 
     performance of work in the same capacity.''.
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