Subpart H - Back Pay

(a) This subpart contains regulations of the Office of Personnel Management to carry out section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, which authorizes the payment of back pay, interest, and reasonable attorney fees for the purpose of making an employee financially whole (to the extent possible) when, on the basis of a timely appeal or an administrative determination (including a decision relating to an unfair labor practice or a grievance), the employee is found by an appropriate authority to have been affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due to the employee. This subpart should be read together with this section of law.

(b) This subpart does not apply to any reclassification action.

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 53 FR 18072, May 20, 1988]

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this subpart applies to employees, as defined in § 550.803 of this subpart.

(b) This subpart does not apply to—

(1) Employees of the government of the District of Columbia; and

(2) Employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981]

In this subpart:

Agency has the meaning given that term in section 5596(a) of title 5, United States Code.

Appropriate authority means an entity having authority in the case at hand to correct or direct the correction of an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action, including (a) a court, (b) the Comptroller General of the United States, (c) the Office of Personnel Management, (d) the Merit Systems Protection Board, (e) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (f) the Federal Labor Relations Authority and its General Counsel, (g) the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board, (h) the Foreign Service Grievance Board, (i) an arbitrator in a binding arbitration case, and (j) the head of the employing agency or another official of the employing agency to whom such authority is delegated.

Collective bargaining agreement has the meaning given that term in section 7103(a)(8) of title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to members of the Foreign Service) in section 1002 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4102(4)).

Employee means an employee of an agency. When the term employee is used to describe an individual who is making a back pay claim, it also may mean a former employee.

Grievance has the meaning given that term in section 7103(a)(9) of title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to members of the Foreign Service) in section 1101 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4131). Such a grievance includes a grievance processed under an agency administrative grievance system, if applicable.

Pay, allowances, and differentials means pay, leave, and other monetary employment benefits to which an employee is entitled by statute or regulation and which are payable by the employing agency to an employee during periods of Federal employment. Agency and employee contributions to a retirement investment fund, such as the Thrift Savings Plan, are not covered. Monetary benefits payable to separated or retired employees based upon a separation from service, such as retirement benefits, severance payments, and lump-sum payments for annual leave, are not covered.

Unfair labor practice means an unfair labor practice described in section 7116 of title 5, United States Code, and (with respect to members of the Foreign Service) in section 1015 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4115).

Unjustified or unwarranted personnel action means an act of commission or an act of omission (i.e., failure to take an action or confer a benefit) that an appropriate authority subsequently determines, on the basis of substantive or procedural defects, to have been unjustified or unwarranted under applicable law, Executive order, rule, regulation, or mandatory personnel policy established by an agency or through a collective bargaining agreement. Such actions include personnel actions and pay actions (alone or in combination).

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 60 FR 47040, Sept. 11, 1995; 64 FR 69178, Dec. 10, 1999]

(a) When an appropriate authority has determined that an employee was affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action, the employee shall be entitled to back pay under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart only if the appropriate authority finds that the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due the employee.

(b) The requirement for a “timely appeal” is met when—

(1) An employee or an employee's personal representative initiates an appeal or grievance under an appeal or grievance system, including appeal or grievance procedures included in a collective bargaining agreement; a claim against the Government of the United States; a discrimination complaint; or an unfair labor practice charge; and

(2) An appropriate authority accepts that appeal, grievance, claim, complaint, or charge as timely filed.

(c) The requirement for an “administrative determination” is met when an appropriate authority determines, in writing, that an employee has been affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due the employee.

(d) The requirement for “correction of the personnel action” is met when an appropriate authority, consistent with law, Executive order, rule, regulation, or mandatory personnel policy established by an agency or through a collective bargaining agreement, after a review, corrects or directs the correction of an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due the employee.

(e)(1) The pay, allowances, and differentials paid as back pay under this subpart (including payments made under any grievance or arbitration decision or any settlement agreement) may not exceed that authorized by any applicable law, rule, regulation, or collective bargaining agreement, including any applicable statute of limitations.

(2) An agency may not authorize pay, allowances, and differentials under this subpart in any case for a period beginning more than 6 years before the date of the filing of a timely appeal, or, absent such filing, the date of the administrative determination that the employee is entitled to back pay, consistent with 31 U.S.C. 3702(b). (See also § 178.104 of this chapter.)

(3) For back pay claims dealing with payments under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (29 U.S.C. 207, et seq.), an agency must apply the 2-year statute of limitations (3 years for willful violations) in 29 U.S.C. 255a. (See also § 551.702 of this chapter.)

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 64 FR 72458, Dec. 28, 1999]

(a) When an appropriate authority corrects or directs the correction of an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due an employee—

(1) The employee shall be deemed to have performed service for the agency during the period covered by the corrective action; and

(2) The agency shall compute for the period covered by the corrective action the pay, allowances, and differentials the employee would have received if the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action had not occurred.

(b) No employee shall be granted more pay, allowances, and differentials under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart than he or she would have been entitled to receive if the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action had not occurred.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, in computing the amount of back pay under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart, an agency may not include—

(1) Any period during which an employee was not ready, willing, and able to perform his or her duties because of an incapacitating illness or injury; or

(2) Any period during which an employee was unavailable for the performance of his or her duties for reasons other than those related to, or caused by, the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action.

(d) In computing the amount of back pay under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart, an agency shall grant, upon request of an employee, any sick or annual leave available to the employee for a period of incapacitation if the employee can establish that the period of incapacitation was the result of illness or injury.

(e) In computing the net amount of back pay payable under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart, an agency must make the following offsets and deductions (in the order shown) from the gross back pay award:

(1) Any outside earnings (gross earnings less any associated business losses and ordinary and necessary business expenses) received by an employee for other employment (including a business enterprise) undertaken to replace the employment from which the employee was separated by the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action during the interim period covered by the corrective action. Do not count earnings from additional or “moonlight” employment the employee may have engaged in while Federally employed (before separation) and while erroneously separated.

(2) Any erroneous payments received from the Government as a result of the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action, which, in the case of erroneous payments received from a Federal employee retirement system, must be returned to the appropriate system. Such payments must be recovered from the back pay award in the following order:

(i) Retirement annuity payments (i.e., gross annuity less deductions for life insurance and health benefits premiums, if those premiums can be recovered by the affected retirement system from the insurance carrier);

(ii) Refunds of retirement contributions (i.e., gross refund before any deductions);

(iii) Severance pay (i.e., gross payments before any deductions); and

(iv) A lump-sum payment for annual leave (i.e., gross payment before any deductions).

(3) Authorized deductions of the type that would have been made from the employee's pay (if paid when properly due) in accordance with the normal order of precedence for deductions from pay established by the agency, subject to any applicable law or regulation, including, but not limited to, the following types of deductions, as applicable:

(i) Mandatory employee retirement contributions toward a defined benefit plan, such as the Civil Service Retirement System or the defined benefit component of the Federal Employees Retirement System;

(ii) Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes;

(iii) Health benefits premiums, if coverage continued during a period of erroneous retirement (with paid premiums recoverable by the retirement system) or is retroactively reinstated at the employee's election under 5 U.S.C. 8908(a);

(iv) Life insurance premiums if—

(A) Coverage continued during a period of erroneous retirement;

(B) Coverage was stopped during an erroneous suspension or separation and the employee suffered death or accidental dismemberment during that period (consistent with 5 U.S.C. 8706(d)); or

(C) Additional premiums are owed because of a retroactive increase in basic pay; and

(v) Federal income tax withholdings.

(4) Administrative offsets under 31 U.S.C. 3716 to recover any other outstanding debt(s) owed to the Federal Government by the employee, as appropriate.

(f) For the purpose of computing the amount of back pay under paragraph (e) of this section, interest shall be included in the amount from which deductions for erroneous payments are made, as required by § 550.805(e)(2) of this part.

(g) An agency shall credit annual leave restored to an employee as a result of the correction of an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action in excess of the maximum leave accumulation authorized by law to a separate leave account for use by the employee. The employee shall schedule and use annual leave in such a separate leave account as follows:

(1) A full-time employee shall schedule and use excess annual leave of 416 hours or less by the end of the leave year in progress 2 years after the date on which the annual leave is credited to the separate account. The agency shall extend this period by 1 leave year for each additional 208 hours of excess annual leave or any portion thereof.

(2) A part-time employee shall schedule and use excess annual leave in an amount equal to or less than 20 percent of the employee's scheduled tour of duty over a period of 52 calendar weeks by the end of the leave year in progress 2 years after the date on which the annual leave is credited to the separate account. The agency shall extend this period by 1 leave year for each additional number of hours of excess annual leave, or any portion thereof, equal to 10 percent of the employee's scheduled tour of duty over a period of 52 calendar weeks.

(h) Agencies must correct errors that affect an employee's Thrift Savings Plan account consistent with regulations prescribed by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. (See parts 1605 and 1606 of this title.)

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 53 FR 18072, May 20, 1988, and 53 FR 45886, Nov. 15, 1988; 59 FR 66634, Dec. 28, 1994; 64 FR 69178, Dec. 10, 1999]

(a)(1) Interest begins to accrue on the date or dates (usually one or more pay dates) on which the employee would have received the pay, allowances, and differentials if the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action had not occurred.

(2) Interest accrual ends at a time selected by the agency that is no more than 30 days before the date of the back pay interest payment. No interest is payable if a complete back pay payment is made within 30 days after any erroneous withdrawal, reduction, or denial of a payment, and the interest accrual ending date is set to coincide with the interest accrual starting date.

(b) In computing the amount of interest due under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, the agency shall reduce the amount of pay, allowances, and differentials due for each date described in paragraph (a) of this section by an amount determined as follows:

(1) Divide the employee's earnings from other employment during the period covered by the corrective action, as described in § 550.805(e)(1) of this part, by the total amount of back pay prior to any deductions;

(2) Multiply the ratio obtained in paragraph (b)(1) of this section by the amount of pay, allowances, and differentials due for each date described in paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) The agency shall compute interest on the amount of back pay computed under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart before making deductions for erroneous payments, as required by § 550.805(e)(2) of this part.

(d) The rate or rates used to compute the interest payment shall be the annual percentage rate or rates established by the Secretary of the Treasury as the overpayment rate under section 6621(a)(1) of title 26, United States Code (or its predecessor statute), for the period or periods of time for which interest is payable.

(e) On each day for which interest accrues, the agency shall compound interest by dividing the applicable interest rate (expressed as a decimal) by 365 (366 in a leap year).

(f) The agency shall compute the amount of interest due, and shall issue the interest payment within 30 days of the date on which accrual of interest ends.

(g) To the extent administratively feasible, the agency shall issue payments of back pay and interest simultaneously. If all or part of the payment of back pay is issued on or before the date on which accrual of interest ends and the interest payment is issued after the payment of back pay is issued, the amount of the payment of back pay shall be subtracted from the accrued amount of back pay and interest, effective with the date the payment of back pay was issued. Interest shall continue to accrue on the remaining unpaid amount of back pay (if any) and interest until the date on which accrual of interest ends.

[53 FR 18072, May 20, 1988, and 53 FR 45886, Nov. 15, 1988; 64 FR 69179, Dec. 10, 1999]

(a) An employee or an employee's personal representative may request payment of reasonable attorney fees related to an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due the employee. Such a request may be presented only to the appropriate authority that corrected or directed the correction of the unjustified or unwarranted personnel action. However, if the finding that provides the basis for a request for payment of reasonable attorney fees is made on appeal from a decision by an appropriate authority other than the employing agency, the employee or the employee's personal representative shall present the request to the appropriate authority from which the appeal was taken.

(b) The appropriate authority to which such a request is presented shall provide an opportunity for the employing agency to respond to a request for payment of reasonable attorney fees.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, when an appropriate authority corrects or directs the correction of an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due an employee, the payment of reasonable attorney fees shall be deemed to be warranted only if—

(1) Such payment is in the interest of justice, as determined by the appropriate authority in accordance with standards established by the Merit Systems Protection Board under section 7701(g) of title 5, United States Code; and

(2) There is a specific finding by the appropriate authority setting forth the reasons such payment is in the interest of justice.

(d) When an appropriate authority determines that such payment is warranted, it shall require payment of attorney fees in an amount determined to be reasonable by the appropriate authority. When an appropriate authority determines that such payment is not warranted, no such payment shall be required.

(e) When a determination by an appropriate authority that an employee has been affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that resulted in the withdrawal, reduction, or denial of all or part of the pay, allowances, and differentials otherwise due the employee is based on a finding of discrimination prohibited under section 2302(b)(1) of title 5, United States Code, the payment of attorney fees shall be in accordance with the standards prescribed under section 706(k) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(k)).

(f) The payment of reasonable attorney fees shall be allowed only for the services of members of the Bar and for the services of law clerks, paralegals, or law students, when assisting members of the Bar. However, no payment may be allowed under section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, and this subpart for the services of any employee of the Federal Government, except as provided in section 205 of title 18, United States Code, relating to the activities of officers and employees in matters affecting the Government.

(g) A determination concerning whether the payment of reasonable attorney fees is in the interest of justice and concerning the amount of any such payment shall be subject to review or appeal only if provided for by statute or regulation.

(h) This section does not apply to any administrative proceeding that was pending on January 11, 1979.

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981. Redesignated at 53 FR 18072, May 20, 1988, and 53 FR 45886, Nov. 15, 1988]

Nothing in section 5596 of title 5, United States Code, or this subpart shall be construed as authorizing the setting aside of an otherwise proper promotion by a selecting official from a group of properly ranked and certified candidates.

[46 FR 58275, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 53 FR 18072, May 20, 1988, and 53 FR 45886, Nov. 15, 1988]