OPM Releases Memo on Recent Pay and Leave-Related Legislative Changes

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a memo on February 16, 2021 detailing several legislative changes and extensions affecting federal employee pay and certain benefits with the implementation of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

First, Section 611 of the NDAA relates to the Reserve Income Replacement Program. The section extends the expiration date for the Reserve Income Replacement Program from December 31, 2020, to December 31, 2021. More information on the program can be found on the OPM website.

The next section outlined in the memo, 1103, makes technical changes to the paid parental leave program, which can be found here. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) is a strong proponent for expanding federal employee paid leave. Connolly said of the issue, “Many of the private sector companies we’re competing with already provide more family leave than the federal government, like Deloitte and Twitter, who each offer 16 weeks of paid family leave, which is all the more important as we’re in a pandemic. We have a talent and recruitment challenge, and if we’re not providing the kinds of benefits available at private sector entities, we’ll have a lot of problems recruiting.”

Section 1105, 1-Year Extension of Authority to Waive Annual Limitation on Premium Pay and Aggregate Limitation on Pay for Certain Federal Civilian Employees Working Overseas, extends the ability of the head of an agency to waive the normally applicable premium pay cap established in 5 U.S.C. 5547.

Section 1111 of the NDAA “provides the Director of OPM with discretionary authority to establish, for eligible Executive branch employees, a higher annual leave carryover limit—125 percent of the limit that would otherwise apply to a given employee—to be applied at the beginning of the 2021 leave year.”

The OPM memo also included guidance regarding pay rate adjustments, the continued pay freeze for certain senior political offices, and the premium pay waiver authority per the Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY 2021.

The memo concludes, “Agency headquarters-level human resources offices may contact OPM at pay-leave-policy@opm.gov.  Employees should contact their agency human resources office for further information on this memorandum.”