[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 90 (Friday, May 9, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25423-25425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12089]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 90 / Friday, May 9, 1997 / Rules and 
Regulations  

[[Page 25423]]


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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Parts 530, 531, and 591

RIN 3206--AH84


Official Duty Station Determinations for Pay Purposes

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Interim rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing interim 
regulations in response to changes made by the Federal Employee Travel 
Reform Act of 1996 that affect the status of employees who are assigned 
to work in another location for an extended period. Under this law, 
employing agencies are authorized to pay certain relocation allowances 
in lieu of temporary duty travel allowances for employees who perform 
an extended assignment lasting from 6 to 30 months in another location. 
These interim regulations clarify that the temporary duty station 
during such an extended assignment must be treated as the official duty 
station of the employee for purposes of determining the employee's 
location-based pay entitlements.

DATES: These regulations are effective on May 9, 1997. Comments must be 
received on or before July 8, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent or delivered to Donald J. Winstead, 
Assistant Director for Compensation Policy, Human Resources Systems 
Service, Office of Personnel Management, Room 6H31, 1900 E Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20415 (FAX: (202) 606-0824 or EMAIL: [email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeanne Jacobson, (202) 606-2858, FAX: 
(202) 606-0824, or EMAIL: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is 
issuing interim regulations in response to changes made by the Federal 
Employee Travel Reform Act of 1996 (title XVII of Pub. L. 104-201, 
September 23, 1996), which took effect on March 22, 1997. Section 1716 
of the Act amends subchapter II of chapter 57 of title 5, United States 
Code, by adding a new section 5737. Section 5737 gives agencies 
discretionary authority to pay certain limited relocation allowances 
(including payment of various expenses associated with moving family 
members and household goods) in lieu of temporary duty travel 
allowances (including payment of a per diem allowance or actual 
subsistence expenses) for employees who are assigned from their 
official duty station to another duty station for an extended period of 
time. Agencies may pay the limited relocation allowances only for 
extended assignments lasting (or originally expected to last) from 6 to 
30 months. These extended temporary assignments may involve a duty 
station change accompanied by a position change (e.g., reassignment or 
promotion), or they may merely involve a duty station change.
    These interim regulations address the pay entitlements of Federal 
employees during one of these extended assignments and make related 
clarifying changes. Certain Federal employee pay entitlements--e.g., 
locality pay and nonforeign area cost-of-living allowances--are linked 
to an employee's official duty station (sometimes referred to as the 
``permanent'' duty station). The official duty station is defined as 
the duty station for the employee's position of record as documented on 
his or her most recent notification of personnel action. To ensure 
consistent and equitable treatment of employees, these regulations 
provide that the employee's temporary duty station in connection with 
an extended assignment under 5 U.S.C. 5737 must be considered the 
employee's official duty station for purposes of certain pay programs 
regulated by OPM. In other words, the employee's position and duty 
station associated with the extended assignment must be documented by 
personnel action as the position of record and official duty station 
for specified pay purposes. Agencies should follow instructions in 
OPM's Guide to Processing Personnel Actions when documenting the 
employee's personnel records. Agency remarks should be used where 
necessary to distinguish the time limitation of the assignment.

Details Versus Assignments

    Previously, agencies that assigned employees to long-term 
assignments away from their current official duty stations had two 
options: (1) Detail the employee to a temporary duty location and pay 
temporary duty travel allowances in accordance with subchapter I of 
chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, or (2) assign the employee, 
in the interest of the Government, to a new official duty station on an 
indefinite basis and pay appropriate relocation allowances in 
accordance with subchapter II of that chapter.
    When an employee is detailed, the employee's official position of 
record remains the position the employee occupied before the detail, 
and the employee's official duty station is the duty station associated 
with that position. If the temporary duty location associated with the 
detail is away from the employee's official duty station, the employee 
is entitled to temporary duty travel allowances as provided in 
subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code. Since the 
duty station from which the employee is detailed remains the official 
duty station, his or her pay entitlements would be determined based on 
that duty station.
    When an employee is assigned to a new position and/or duty station, 
the position and duty station associated with that assignment 
constitute the employee's position of record and official duty station. 
The job assignment generally takes the form of a reassignment, 
promotion, or demotion (as those terms are defined in 5 CFR 210.102), 
resulting in a change in the employee's position of record, but which 
may or may not involve a duty station change. In some cases, the 
assignment is merely a change in duty station without a change in the 
position of record. The official duty station associated with the 
assignment constitutes the official duty station for purposes of 
determining (1) the employee's entitlements to the full array

[[Page 25424]]

of relocation allowances under subchapter II of chapter 57 of title 5, 
United States Code, and (2) the employee's entitlements to various 
forms of location-based payments.

Extended Assignments With a Temporary Change of Duty Station

    Section 5737 of title 5, United States Code, now provides agencies 
a third option--the authority to pay, in lieu of temporary duty travel 
allowances, a limited set of relocation allowances to employees who are 
assigned from their current official duty station to a new temporary 
duty station for an extended period of time (i.e., 6 to 30 months). The 
limited relocation allowances include payment of travel expenses for 
the employee and his or her immediate family to and from the assignment 
location, transportation expenses of the employee's household goods, 
househunting trip expenses (if appropriate), temporary quarters 
subsistence expenses (if appropriate), expenses of transporting a 
privately owned vehicle to and from the new assignment location, 
expenses of storage of household goods and personal effects, a 
relocation income tax allowance, expenses of property management 
services in connection with maintaining a residence at the old duty 
station as a rental property, and certain other miscellaneous expenses. 
However, residence transaction allowances, which apply to permanent 
changes in duty station, are not payable. The General Services 
Administration (GSA) published Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) (41 CFR 
chapters 301-304) Amendment 64, Temporary Change of Station, 
implementing this limited relocation allowance authority on Friday, 
March 21, 1997. (See 62 FR 13770.) The provisions of FTR Amendment 64 
became effective on March 22, 1997. Among other things, the GSA 
regulations clarify that employees who are relocated under 5 U.S.C. 
5737 to perform an extended assignment are entitled to allowances to 
cover the costs of moving them back to the last permanent official duty 
station area, even if they separate from Federal service.
    Section 5737 did not clearly state how the employee's pay 
entitlements would be affected by the extended assignment to a new duty 
station. The OPM regulations published in this notice make several 
changes to ensure that employees on extended assignments who are paid 
limited relocation allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5737 are paid the 
appropriate special salary rate, locality payment, law enforcement 
officer geographic adjustment, and nonforeign area cost-of-living 
allowance and/or post differential for the temporary duty station 
associated with the extended assignment.
    As explained in the section titled ``Details Versus Assignments,'' 
when an employee is temporarily detailed to a new duty location away 
from his or her official duty station, the employee is entitled to the 
payment of temporary duty travel allowances and continues to be paid 
various types of location-based pay based on the position of record and 
official duty station from which he or she was detailed. In contrast, 
when an employee receives an extended assignment under 5 U.S.C. 5737, 
the new duty station associated with the extended assignment is 
established as the temporary official duty station. Instead of 
temporary duty travel allowances, the employee is entitled to a limited 
set of relocation allowances, including many of the same relocation 
allowances payable to employees assigned to a new official duty station 
on an indefinite basis. (See subpart C of part 302-1, title 41, Code of 
Federal Regulations, as added by Federal Travel Regulation Amendment 
64, referenced above.) Therefore, the interim regulations provide that 
employees serving on extended assignments under 5 U.S.C. 5737 must be 
paid various types of location-based pay based on the temporary 
official duty station--i.e., in the same manner as employees who are 
officially stationed in that same pay area on an indefinite basis.
    For temporary work in another location expected to last 6 months or 
more, the employing agency is responsible for determining whether a 
detail (providing temporary duty travel allowances) or an extended 
assignment/temporary change of duty station under 5 U.S.C. 5737 
(providing limited relocation allowances) would be most appropriate, 
consistent with the criteria in GSA's Federal Travel Regulation. (See 
subpart D of part 302-1, title 41, Code of Federal Regulations, as 
added by Federal Travel Regulation Amendment 64, referenced above.) As 
explained above, employees' pay entitlements would automatically flow 
from the approach chosen by the employing agency.
    It should be noted that not all temporary assignments involve a 
change in duty station. In some cases, an employee may be temporarily 
reassigned or promoted to a new position that is at the same duty 
station. In these cases, there is no issue as to the payment of 
relocation allowances, since those allowances only apply when there is 
a change in duty station. Of course, the duty station for pay purposes 
would also be unchanged.
    In addition, we note that these regulations deal only with the 
effect that an extended assignment under 5 U.S.C. 5737 has on an 
employee's official duty station for purposes of making certain pay 
determinations. They do not address other personnel rules (e.g., 
reduction-in-force regulations in 5 CFR part 351).

Regulatory Changes

    The interim regulations add a new paragraph to 5 CFR 530.303 that 
clarifies that an employee is covered by a special salary rate schedule 
based on the employee's position of record and the official duty 
station for that position, as documented on the employee's most recent 
notification of personnel action. The new paragraph also provides that, 
for special salary rate purposes, when an employee is paid limited 
relocation allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5737, the employee's position of 
record and official duty station are the position and duty station 
associated with the extended assignment. The interim regulations also 
make a similar change in the definitions of official duty station in 5 
CFR 531.301 and 531.602 for purposes of paying locality-based 
comparability payments and law enforcement officer geographic 
adjustments.
    The interim regulations add a definition of official duty station 
to 5 CFR 591.201 (consistent with the revised definitions of official 
duty station in 5 CFR 531.301 and 531.602) for purposes of paying 
nonforeign area cost-of-living allowances and post differentials and 
change the term ``permanent duty station'' to ``official duty station'' 
in 5 CFR 591.210(a) to make these terms consistent with those used in 
the locality pay regulations. The regulations also make conforming 
changes in Sec. 591.201 and in paragraphs (b)(1), (c), and (f) of 
Sec. 591.210.

Waiver of Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and of Delay in Effective 
Date

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B), I find that good cause exists 
for waiving the general notice of proposed rulemaking. Also, pursuant 
to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), I find that good cause exists to make this rule 
effective in less than 30 days. As explained in this notice, these 
regulatory changes are needed to address new situations created by the 
Federal Employee Travel Reform Act of 1996, which took effect on March 
22, 1997. The regulations are necessary to ensure that Federal 
employees are treated equitably and consistently in

[[Page 25425]]

determining their location-based pay entitlements.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that these regulations will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they 
would apply only to Federal agencies and employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Parts 530, 531, and 591

    Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Travel and transportation expenses, Wages.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
James B. King,
Director.

    Accordingly, OPM is amending parts 530, 531, and 591 of title 5 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 530--PAY RATES AND SYSTEMS (GENERAL)

    1. The authority citation for part 530 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5305 and 5307; E.O. 12748, 56 FR 4521, 3 
CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 316;
    Subpart B also issued under secs. 302(c) and 404(c) of the 
Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-509), 
104 Stat. 1462 and 1466, respectively;
    Subpart C also issued under sec. 4 of the Performance Management 
and Recognition System Termination Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-89), 107 
Stat. 981.

    2. In Sec. 530.303, a new paragraph (i) is added to read as 
follows:


Sec. 530.303  Establishing and adjusting special salary rate schedules.

* * * * *
    (i) The determination regarding whether an employee is covered by a 
special salary rate schedule is based on the employee's position of 
record and the official duty station for that position. For purposes of 
this subpart, the employee's position of record and corresponding 
official duty station are the position and station documented on the 
employee's most recent notification of personnel action. For an 
employee who is authorized to receive relocation allowances under 5 
U.S.C. 5737 in connection with an extended assignment, the position and 
duty station associated with that assignment are the employee's 
position of record and official duty station.

PART 531--PAY UNDER THE GENERAL SCHEDULE

    3. The authority citation for part 531 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5115, 5307, and 5338; sec. 4 of Pub. L. 103-
89, 107 Stat. 981; and E.O. 12748, 56 FR 4521, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 
316;
    Subpart B also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5303(g), 5333, 5334(a), and 
7701(b)(2);
    Subpart C also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, and 5553; 
sections 302 and 404 of FEPCA, Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 1462 and 
1466; and section 3(7) of Pub. L. 102-378, 106 Stat. 1356;
    Subpart D also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5335(g) and 7701(b)(2);
    Subpart E also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5336;
    Subpart F also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305(g)(1), and 5553; 
and E.O. 12883, 58 FR 63281, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 682;
    Subpart G also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, and 5553; 
section 302 of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 
(FEPCA), Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 1462; and E.O. 12786, 56 FR 
67453, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 376.

    4. In Sec. 531.301, the definition of official duty station is 
revised to read as follows:


Sec. 531.301  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Official duty station means the duty station for the law 
enforcement officer's position of record as indicated on his or her 
most recent notification of personnel action. For an employee who is 
authorized to receive relocation allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5737 in 
connection with an extended assignment, the temporary duty station 
associated with that assignment is the employee's official duty 
station.
* * * * *
    5. In Sec. 531.602, the definition of official duty station is 
revised to read as follows:


Sec. 531.602  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Official duty station means the duty station for an employee's 
position of record as indicated on his or her most recent notification 
of personnel action. For an employee who is authorized to receive 
relocation allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5737 in connection with an 
extended assignment, the temporary duty station associated with that 
assignment is the employee's official duty station.
* * * * *

PART 591--ALLOWANCES AND DIFFERENTIALS

Subpart B--Cost-of-Living Allowance and Post Differential--
Nonforeign Areas

    6. The authority citation for subpart B of part 591 continues to 
read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5941; E.O. 10000, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 
792; and E.O. 12510, 3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p. 338.

    7. In Sec. 591.201, the definitions of date of arrival and date of 
departure are removed and the definition of official duty station is 
added in alphabetical order to read as follows:


Sec. 591.201  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Official duty station means the duty station for an employee's 
position of record as indicated on his or her most recent notification 
of personnel action. For an employee who is authorized to receive 
relocation allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5737 in connection with an 
extended assignment, the temporary duty station associated with that 
assignment is the employee's official duty station.
* * * * *
    8. In Sec. 591.210, paragraph (a) is amended by removing the word 
``permanent'' and adding the word ``official'' in its place; paragraph 
(c) is amended by removing the words ``a duty station'' and adding the 
words ``an official duty station'' in their place; paragraph (b)(1) is 
amended by removing the last sentence and adding a new sentence in its 
place; and paragraph (f) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 591.210  Payment of allowances and differentials.

* * * * *
    (b)(1) * * * Allowances and differentials that an employee is 
receiving in accordance with this subpart at the time of separation or 
death shall be included in any lump-sum payment for accumulated and 
current accrued annual leave issued under sections 5551 or 5552 of 
title 5, United States Code.
* * * * *
    (f) Payment of an allowance or differential will begin on the 
effective date of the change in the employee's official duty station to 
a duty station within the allowance or differential area or on the 
effective date of the appointment in the case of local recruitment. 
Payment of an allowance or differential will cease upon separation or 
on the effective date of an assignment or transfer to a new official 
duty station outside the allowance or differential area.

[FR Doc. 97-12089 Filed 5-8-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-01-P