[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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