[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 144 (Friday, July 28, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 48723-48725]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15680]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

15 CFR Part 998

[Docket No. 230717-0169]
RIN 0648-BM21


Shore Leave for Professional Mariners of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration

AGENCY: Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Department 
of Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: On December 23, 2022, the President signed into law the James 
M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY 
2023 NDAA). Pursuant to the FY 2023 NDAA, this final rule establishes 
shore leave regulations for NOAA's professional mariners and authorizes 
payment of the difference between a NOAA professional mariner's 
temporary and permanent rates of pay for annual leave

[[Page 48724]]

accrued while temporarily promoted. This final rule also makes clerical 
amendments to create a new subchapter specific to NOAA Marine and 
Aviation Operations.

DATES: This rule is effective October 1, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: LCDR Zachary Cress, NOAA Corps, OMAO 
Executive Affairs Division, 301-713-1045.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    In addition to commissioned officers of the NOAA Corps, NOAA Marine 
and Aviation Operations employs civilian professional mariners who 
serve in crew positions on NOAA ships as credentialed licensed 
engineering officers, unlicensed engineers, licensed mates, engineering 
electronics technicians, able and ordinary seamen, stewards, and survey 
technicians as well as non-credentialed, but vitally important 
electronics technicians who maintain ships' mission systems.
    Unlike NOAA commissioned officers, credentialed NOAA professional 
mariners work exclusively on NOAA ships and do not rotate between sea 
and shore assignments. Non-credentialed electronics technicians rotate 
between sea and shore duty within NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations 
Engineering Branch, but are required, as a condition of employment, to 
perform duties at sea and so earn shore leave.
    Commercial employers of credentialed mariners typically employ 
rotational staffing models in which mariners work on a ship for a 
specified period and are off for a specified period, such as 2-on-1-
off, in which a mariner may work, for example, 28 days on followed by 
14 days paid time off. NOAA, as a Federal agency, cannot fully 
implement rotational staffing models without the authority to provide 
additional paid time off.

Shore Leave

    Shore leave is a leave of absence, in addition to earned annual 
leave, that is earned by employees serving aboard oceangoing vessels. 
Unlike annual leave, shore leave is earned in whole days rather than 
hours, and unused shore leave is not payable. Under existing law and 
regulations, shore leave earnings are limited to 2 days for each 30 
calendar days of qualifying service.
    Section 11706 of the FY 2023 NDAA authorizes NOAA to prescribe 
regulations for shore leave for its professional mariner workforce 
without regard to the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 6305 and, by extension, 
the regulations implementing 5 U.S.C. 6305 at 5 CFR part 630, subpart 
G. Section 11706 of the FY 2023 NDAA provides that such regulations 
shall require NOAA professional mariners serving aboard oceangoing 
vessels to be granted 4 days of shore leave per 14-day pay period.
    This final rule establishes such shore leave accrual rates for NOAA 
professional mariners. Because a professional mariner may join a NOAA 
ship in the middle of a pay period, and because ship sailing schedules 
do not conform to established pay periods, these regulations allow 
professional mariners to earn 1 day of shore leave for each 3 and one-
half days of consecutive periods of assignment such that they may earn 
the required 4 days of shore leave for a 14-day pay period.
    This final rule adopts most of the conditions of qualifying service 
for which shore leave may be earned under 5 CFR part 630, subpart G, 
but departs from the requirement that they be earned only in relation 
to extended voyages of 7 consecutive days, such that they may be earned 
for any consecutive period of work aboard a NOAA ship. This final rule 
also adopts the same conditions of granting and forfeiture of shore 
leave under 5 CFR 630.704.

Temporary Promotion

    Section 11706 of the FY 2023 NDAA also requires that regulations 
established for shore leave provide that temporarily promoted NOAA 
professional mariners may be paid the difference between their 
temporary and permanent rates of pay for leave accrued while 
temporarily promoted.
    NOAA professional mariners are often temporarily promoted to the 
next higher grade to fill an absence when they are qualified and hold 
the appropriate credential and/or license to serve in that higher 
grade. For example, a third assistant engineer may be temporarily 
promoted to second assistant engineer to fill a vacancy and perform the 
specific duties of that position. Temporary promotions are made only 
for full pay periods, and a temporarily promoted professional mariner 
receives the pay of the grade to which they are temporarily promoted 
for the specified pay period(s). However, at present, any hours of 
annual leave earned while temporarily promoted are paid out at the 
professional mariner's permanent pay rate, rather than at the 
temporarily increased pay rate at which they earned that leave.
    This final rule authorizes payment of the difference between a NOAA 
professional mariner's temporary and permanent rates of pay for leave 
accrued while temporarily promoted.

Housekeeping

    Part 998 of this title is currently placed within subchapter G, 
which concerns the Requirements for Certification by NOAA of Non-
Federal Assets into the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation 
System. NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations rules are not within the 
scope of that subchapter. This final rule creates a new subchapter H 
for NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations rules. This final rule also 
renames part 998 from ``National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
Commissioned Officer Corps'' to ``Marine and Aviation Operations'' in 
recognition that the name of part 998 should be inclusive of the entire 
NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations workforce rather than a subset of 
that workforce, the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps).

Classification

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2), the provisions of the 
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requiring notice of proposed 
rulemaking and the opportunity for public participation are 
inapplicable to this final rule because this rule falls within the 
agency management and personnel exception as it strictly regulates NOAA 
professional mariner personnel, addresses internal agency management, 
and does not affect persons outside the agency.
    This rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of 
Executive Order 12866.
    This regulation is exempt from the notice and comment provisions of 
the APA. Therefore, the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) do not apply. Accordingly, no Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis is required and none has been prepared.
    This rule does not have any collection of information requirements 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 998

    Administrative practice and procedure, Government employees, 
Military personnel.

    Dated: July 18, 2023,
Richard Spinrad,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA 
Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, NOAA amends 15 CFR chapter 
IX as follows:

[[Page 48725]]

PART 998--MARINE AND AVIATION OPERATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 998 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.


0
2. Revise the heading for part 998 to read as set forth above.


0
3. Under authority of 33 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., add subchapter H to read 
as follows:

SUBCHAPTER H--REGULATIONS OF NOAA MARINE AND AVIATION OPERATIONS

0
4. Transfer part 998 to subchapter H.


0
5. Amend part 998 by adding subpart E, consisting of Sec. Sec.  998.50 
through 998.54, to read as follows:
Subpart E--Shore Leave
Sec.
998.50 Applicability.
998.51 Definitions.
998.52 Computation of shore leave.
998.53 Granting shore leave.
998.54 Pay for temporary promotion.

    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 3079b.

Subpart E--Shore Leave


Sec.  998.50  Applicability.

    This subpart applies to professional mariners as defined in section 
3079b(c) of title 33, United States Code, and in Sec.  998.51, who are 
regularly assigned duties aboard a NOAA ship. An employee is considered 
to be regularly assigned when his or her continuing duties are such 
that all or a significant part of them require that he or she serve 
aboard a NOAA ship. Temporary assignments of a shore-based employee of 
the Administration, such as for limited work projects or for training, 
do not constitute a regular assignment. This subpart does not apply to 
commissioned officers of the NOAA Corps serving on NOAA ships.


Sec.  998.51  Definitions.

    NOAA ship means a research or survey vessel owned or operated by 
NOAA as part of the NOAA fleet defined at 33 U.S.C. 891(2), but does 
not mean a vessel owned or operated by NOAA under the jurisdiction of 
the NOAA Small Boat Program.
    Professional mariner means an individual employed by the 
Administration on a NOAA ship who has the necessary expertise to serve 
in the engineering, deck, steward, electronic technician, or survey 
departments.
    Shore leave means a leave of absence, in addition to earned annual 
leave, that is earned by professional mariners serving aboard NOAA 
ships, as authorized by section 3079b of title 33, United States Code, 
and this subpart.


Sec.  998.52  Computation of shore leave.

    (a) A professional mariner earns shore leave at the rate of one day 
of shore leave for each 3 and one-half consecutive days of assignment 
to a NOAA ship such that a total of up to 4 days of shore leave may be 
earned in any given pay period.
    (b) For a professional mariner, an assignment begins either on the 
date he or she assumes their duties aboard a NOAA ship or on the date 
he or she comes aboard when a voyage is in progress. The assignment 
terminates on the date he or she ceases to be assigned to a NOAA ship 
or on the date on which he or she is released from assignment of their 
duties.
    (c) In computing days of assignment, the Administration shall also 
include:
    (1) The days a professional mariner spends traveling to join a NOAA 
ship to which assigned;
    (2) The days a professional mariner spends traveling between NOAA 
ships when the employee is assigned from one NOAA ship to another; and
    (3) The days on which the professional mariner is on sick leave 
when he or she becomes sick during an assignment (whether or not 
continued as a member of the crew) but not beyond the termination date 
of the assignment to the NOAA ship.
    (d) In computing days of assignment, the Administration shall not 
include days the professional mariner is on any kind of leave other 
than sick leave.


Sec.  998.53  Granting shore leave.

    (a) Authority. (1) A professional mariner has an absolute right to 
use shore leave, subject to the right of the head of the agency to fix 
the time at which shore leave may be used.
    (2) A professional mariner shall submit his or her request for 
shore leave in writing and whenever such a request for shore leave is 
denied, the denial shall be in writing.
    (b) Accumulation. Shore leave for professional mariners may be 
accumulated for future use without limitation and is in addition to 
annual leave.
    (c) Charge for shore leave. The minimum charge for shore leave is 
one day and additional charges are in multiples thereof.
    (d) Lump-sum payment. Shore leave may not be the basis for lump-sum 
payment on separation from the Administration.
    (e) Terminal leave. (1) Except as provided by paragraph (e)(2) of 
this section, NOAA shall not grant shore leave to a professional 
mariner as terminal leave. For the purpose of this paragraph terminal 
leave means an approved absence immediately before an employee's 
separation when an agency knows the employee will not return to duty 
before the date of his or her separation.
    (2) NOAA shall grant shore leave as terminal leave when the 
professional mariner's inability to use shore leave was due to 
circumstances beyond his or her control and not due to his or her own 
act or omission.
    (f) Forfeiture of shore leave. Shore leave not granted before:
    (1) Separation from employment with the Administration, or
    (2) Official assignment (other than by temporary detail) to a 
position within NOAA in which the employee does not earn shore leave, 
is forfeited. When an official assignment will result in forfeiture of 
shore leave, NOAA, to the extent administratively practicable shall 
give an employee an opportunity to use the shore leave he or she has to 
his or her credit either before the reassignment or not later than 6 
months after the date of his reassignment when the agency is unable to 
grant the shore leave before the reassignment.


Sec.  998.54  Pay for temporary promotion.

    Professional mariners serving in a position aboard a NOAA ship to 
which they have been temporarily promoted pursuant to 5 CFR 335.102(f) 
shall be paid the difference between their temporary and permanent 
rates of pay for leave accrued while serving in the temporary promotion 
position unless:
    (a) The professional mariner uses the leave before returning to 
their permanent position; or
    (b) The professional mariner is permanently promoted to the higher 
position without further competition.

[FR Doc. 2023-15680 Filed 7-27-23; 8:45 am]
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