§5545c — Title 5 Government Organization and Employees | U.S. Code

Summary

Pays extra daily pay to Forest Service and Department of the Interior employees who fight wildland fires when they are deployed to respond to a qualifying incident. To get the pay, the worker must be deployed and be either away from their official duty station or, if at their station, assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or other field location. The extra pay is 450% of the worker’s hourly basic pay per day, rounded to the nearest cent. It cannot pay more than the daily amount that 450% would be for step 10 of GS-10 for higher-paid workers, and no one can receive more than $9,000 in a calendar year. Key terms in one line each: "Appropriate committees of Congress" means certain House and Senate committees on appropriations, oversight, agriculture, natural resources, homeland security, energy, and agriculture/nutrition/forestry. "Covered employee" means a Forest Service or Interior employee who is a wildland firefighter or is certified to do incident-related duties while deployed. "Prescribed fire incident" means a planned fire started to meet specific objectives. "Qualifying incident" means a wildfire, a prescribed fire, a severity incident, or a similar incident the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior decides, and it excludes initial responses contained within 36 hours. "Severity incident" means being pre-positioned where conditions show high wildfire risk. The Secretaries must compare average pay by grade for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, publish a report within 180 days after one year from the law’s effective date, may adjust the premium pay afterward, and must notify the appropriate committees within 3 days of any adjustment. This premium pay is not basic pay and is not used to calculate leave buyouts, workers’ compensation, paid leave when the premium is not payable, or minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Title 5, §5545c

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In this section—

(1)the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means—

(A)the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives;

(B)the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives;

(C)the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives;

(D)the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives;

(E)the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;

(F)the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;

(G)the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and

(H)the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate;

(2)the term “covered employee” means an employee of the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior who is—

(A)a wildland firefighter, as defined in section 5332a(a); or

(B)certified by the applicable agency to perform wildland fire incident-related duties during the period that employee is deployed to respond to a qualifying incident;

(3)the term “incident response premium pay” means pay to which a covered employee is entitled under subsection (c);

(4)the term “prescribed fire incident” means a wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regulations to meet specific objectives;

(5)the term “qualifying incident”—

(A)means—

(i)a wildfire incident, a prescribed fire incident, or a severity incident; or

(ii)an incident that the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior determines is similar in nature to an incident described in clause (i); and

(B)does not include an initial response incident that is contained within 36 hours; and

(6)the term “severity incident” means an incident in which a covered employee is pre-positioned in an area in which conditions indicate there is a high risk of wildfires.

(b)A covered employee is eligible for incident response premium pay under this section if—

(1)the covered employee is deployed to respond to a qualifying incident; and

(2)the deployment described in paragraph (1) is—

(A)outside of the official duty station of the covered employee; or

(B)within the official duty station of the covered employee and the covered employee is assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or other designated field location.

(c)(1)A covered employee who satisfies the conditions under subsection (b) is entitled to premium pay for the period in which the covered employee is deployed to respond to the applicable qualifying incident.

(2)(A)Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), premium pay under paragraph (1) shall be paid to a covered employee at a daily rate of 450 percent of the hourly rate of basic pay of the covered employee for each day that the covered employee satisfies the requirements under subsection (b), rounded to the nearest whole cent.

(B)Premium pay under this subsection may not be paid—

(i)with respect to a covered employee for whom the annual rate of basic pay is greater than that for step 10 of GS–10, at a daily rate that exceeds the daily rate established under subparagraph (A) for step 10 of GS–10; or

(ii)to a covered employee in a total amount that exceeds $9,000 in any calendar year.

(C)(i)The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall assess the difference between the average total amount of compensation that was paid to covered employees, by grade, in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

(ii)Not later than 180 days after the date that is 1 year after the effective date of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall jointly publish a report on the results of the assessment conducted under clause (i).

(iii)After publishing the report required under clause (ii), the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, may, in the sole and exclusive discretion of the Secretaries acting jointly, administratively adjust the amount of premium pay paid under this subsection (or take other administrative action) to ensure that the average annual amount of total compensation paid to covered employees, by grade, is more consistent with such amount that was paid to those employees in fiscal year 2023.

(iv)Not later than 3 days after an adjustment made, or other administrative action taken, under clause (iii) becomes final, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a notification regarding that adjustment or other administrative action, as applicable.

(d)Incident response premium pay under this section—

(1)is not considered part of the basic pay of a covered employee for any purpose;

(2)may not be considered in determining a covered employee’s lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 or section 5552;

(3)may not be used in determining pay under section 8114 (relating to compensation for work injuries);

(4)may not be considered in determining pay for hours of paid leave or other paid time off during which the premium pay is not payable; and

(5)shall be disregarded in determining the minimum wage and overtime pay to which a covered employee is entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

For the

Effective Date

of this section, referred to in subsec. (c)(2)(C)(ii), see

Effective Date

note below. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, referred to in subsec. (d)(5), is act

June 25, 1938, ch. 676, 52 Stat. 1060, which is classified generally to chapter 8 (§ 201 et seq.) of Title 29, Labor. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 201 of Title 29 and Tables. Codification Section is based on section 457(a) of H.R. 8998, from the 118th Congress (Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Congress, Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025), as passed by the House of Representatives on

July 24, 2024, which was enacted into law by section 1807 of div. A of Pub. L. 119–4.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives changed to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Nineteenth Congress, Jan. 3, 2025.

Effective Date

Section effective the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after Mar. 15, 2025, see section 457(d) of H.R. 8998 from the 118th Congress, as passed by the House of Representatives on July 24, 2024, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2025 Amendment note under section 5544 of this title.

§5545c Incident response premium pay for employees engaged in wildland firefighting

Summary

Title 5, §5545c

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Effective Date

Effective Date

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata