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Yes, if a hazardous duty is performed on a day on which paid leave is taken. For example, if an employee performs a hazardous duty for 1 hour and then takes annual leave for the 7 hours remaining in his or her workday, the employee is paid hazardous duty pay for the entire 8-hour workday. (5 CFR 550.905)
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OPM has denied requests for new hazardous duty pay categories when--
- the duties would involve remote or potential hazards rather than present or actual hazards--i.e., when the duty is not inherently hazardous and an accident or injury is unlikely;
- adequate safeguards would reduce the risk to a less than significant level;
- overseas post differentials already compensate or take into account the hardships and hazards encountered in overseas assignments, such as presence in a war zone;
- the risk of exposure to the hazard is not directly connected with the performance of assigned duties;
- the hazard would not be "unusual" and would be hard to distinguish from the ongoing hazards that are inherent in the job; or
- the hazardous duty or physical hardship is already listed in appendix A.
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Yes. By law (5 U.S.C. 5362(c)), the retained grade of an employee must be treated as the grade of the employee's position for all purposes, including pay setting and pay administration. Thus, the agency must pay the employee under the rules that apply to the General Schedule pay system during the grade retention period. This includes any hazard pay differential that is appropriate for a GS employee who performs the actual duties assigned to the employee (i.e., in this case, the FWS duties). The employee is not entitled to an environmental differential paid to wage employees during the period of GS grade retention.
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No. The limitation on premium pay in 5 U.S.C. 5547(a) does not include hazardous duty pay.
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5 CFR 550.904 allows an agency to approve payment of hazardous duty pay when the hazardous duty or physical hardship has not been taken into account in the classification of the position (i.e., the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the duty are not considered in the classification of the position). If the hazardous duty has already been taken into account in the classification of the position, an agency may authorize payment of hazardous duty pay only when the actual circumstances of the specific hazard or physical hardship have changed from that taken into account and described in the position description; and, when using the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the position and described in the position description, the employee cannot control the hazard or physical hardship; thus, the risk is not reduced to a less than significant level.
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Hazardous duty is duty performed under circumstances in which an accident could result in serious injury or death. Duty involving a physical hardship is duty that may not in itself be hazardous, but causes extreme physical discomfort or distress and is not adequately alleviated by protective or mechanical devices.
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Hazardous duty pay differentials are established under 5 CFR 550, appendix A to subpart I. You can find the Code of Federal Regulations on our web site at
www.opm.gov/cfr/. Additional information about hazardous duty pay for GS employees can be found at
www.opm.gov/oca/pay/html/hazduty.htm.
Pay administration rules for environmental differentials are found in 5 CFR 532.511. Environmental differential pay categories are listed in appendix A to subpart E of 5 CFR part 532. Additional information about environmental differentials for prevailing rate employees can be found at
www.opm.gov/oca/wage/APPFUND/.
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Yes, as long as the hazardous duty is listed in appendix A and exposure to the hazard meets the requirements of 5 CFR 550.904, the employee may receive the percentage authorized in appendix A for the hazardous duty.
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Hazardous duty pay and environmental differential pay have separate legal authorities. The authority for hazardous duty pay is found in 5 U.S.C. 5545(d). The legal authority for environmental differential pay is found in 5 U.S.C. 5343(c)(4).
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No. There is no authority to pay hazardous duty pay or environmental differential pay for potential exposure to anthrax. To pay hazardous duty pay or environmental differential pay, a local installation must find that there is credible evidence that anthrax is in the workplace and that an employee was exposed to anthrax.
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