PRIA Logo™
Title 37, Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed ServicesRelease 119-110

§909 Special and Incentive Pay: Payment at Unreduced Rates During Suspension of Personnel Laws

Title 37 › CHAPTER 17 — MISCELLANEOUS RIGHTS AND BENEFITS › § 909

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

A military department secretary can let service members who are kept on active duty against their will under section 123, section 12305 of title 10, or another law keep receiving their special or incentive pay from chapter 5 at the same rate they had before the retention, even if rules would normally cut the pay because of years of service. This does not apply if the President or the Secretary of Defense suspends that pay authority during a time of war. Qualifying service means the service that makes someone eligible for a particular special or incentive pay under chapter 5.

Full Legal Text

Title 37, §909

Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Authority To Continue Payment at Unreduced Rates.—
To ensure fairness and recognize the contributions of members of the armed forces to military essential missions, the Secretary of the military department concerned may authorize members who are involuntarily retained on active duty under section 123 or 12305 of title 10 or any other provision of law and who, immediately before retention on active duty, were entitled or eligible for special pay or incentive pay under chapter 5 of this title, to receive that special pay or incentive pay for qualifying service performed during the retention period, without a reduction in the payment rate below the rate the members received immediately before retention on active duty, notwithstanding any requirement otherwise applicable to that special pay or incentive pay that would reduce the payment rate by reason of the years of service of the members.
(b)Suspension During Time of War.—
Subsection (a) does not apply with respect to a special pay or incentive pay under chapter 5 of this title, whenever the authority to provide that special pay or incentive pay is suspended by the President or the Secretary of Defense during a time of war.
(c)Qualifying Service Defined.—
In this section, the term “qualifying service” means service for which a particular special pay or incentive pay is payable under the authority of a provision of chapter 5 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 107–107, div. A, title VI, § 623(b), Dec. 28, 2001, 115 Stat. 1143, provided that: “Section 909 of title 37, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1), shall apply with respect to pay periods beginning after September 11, 2001.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

37 U.S.C. § 909

Title 37, Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110