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Under the law, an employee does not necessarily have to have 52 consecutive weeks at the grade held immediately before being downgraded in order to retain that grade under the grade retention provisions. Under 5 U.S.C. 5362(a), any employee who is placed as a result of reduction-in-force (RIF) procedures into a lower grade and who has served for 52 consecutive weeks or more in "one or more positions . . . at a grade or grades higher than that of the new position, is entitled to have the grade of the position held immediately before such placement" as the retained grade. [Emphasis added.] See also 5 CFR 536.203(a) and (c).Thus, for example, assume an employee has 2 years of service at GS-12 and 10 weeks of service at GS-13 immediately prior to being downgraded to GS-11 as a result of RIF procedures. Even though he or she has only 10 weeks of service at the GS-13 level, the GS-12 service plus the GS-13 service gives the employee more than 52 consecutive weeks at one or more grades higher than that of the position to which the employee is being reduced (i.e., GS-11). Thus, the employee meets the 52 consecutive week requirement and is entitled to retain the grade of GS-13.In contrast, if this employee were being reduced to a GS-12 position rather than a GS-11 position, the employee would not meet the 52 consecutive week requirement and could not retain the GS-13.
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The statute authorizing this program states that this incentive is to be used for employees of a given agency who have outstanding student loans. Thus, if the employee has a PLUS loan for his or her child, the loan would qualify for repayment. However, if a PLUS loan is held by an employee’s parent, the employee is not eligible for loan repayment benefits for the parent’s PLUS loan. While a PLUS loan an employee has previously taken out to help pay for his or her child's education is a qualifying student loan under 5 U.S.C. 5379(a)(1)(B) and 5 CFR 537.102, an agency may specify in its agency loan repayment plan that it will not offer to repay PLUS loans under its student loan repayment program.
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No. An employee who is returned from a temporary promotion to his or her regular grade and step and is subsequently promoted to the same grade held during the temporary promotion receives an "equivalent increase" upon the permanent promotion and begins a new waiting period on the date of the permanent promotion. The time spent in the temporary grade and step is not creditable service towards the completion of a waiting period when the employee is permanently promoted.NOTE: If a temporary promotion is made permanent immediately after the temporary promotion ends, the agency may not return the employee to the lower grade. The agency must convert the employee's temporary promotion to a permanent promotion without a change in pay. See 5 CFR 531.214(e).
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No. Hazardous duty pay is paid only for the hours in which the employee is in a pay status on the day on which the hazardous duty is performed. (5 CFR 550.905)
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Under 5 CFR 537.103, each agency must establish a plan that designates the officials who are authorized to review and approve offers of student loan repayment benefits. Agencies may use approval delegations similar to those used for other recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives.
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5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) & (2) authorize the payment of annual premium pay for regularly scheduled standby duty and administratively uncontrollable overtime work, and 5 U.S.C. 5545a(c) authorizes availability pay, instead of some other types of premium pay, including hazardous duty pay. Thus, hazardous duty pay may not be paid for hours of work for which an employee is paid these types of premium pay.
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Severance pay liability rests with the agency employing the employee at the time of the involuntary separation that triggers the severance pay entitlement. In the scenario set forth in the question, the agency employing the employee in the time-limited job will be responsible for making severance payments when the time-limited appointment ends. Any severance pay entitlement that an employee may have based on an involuntary separation from a permanent appointment is immediately terminated (not suspended) when the employee receives a qualifying temporary appointment. (See 5 CFR 550.711.) Severance pay for an employee in a qualifying temporary appointment is triggered by the involuntary separation from that appointment (including expiration of the appointment as provided in the definition of "involuntary separation" in 5 CFR 550.703) and is computed using the rate of basic pay at the time of separation from that temporary job. (See 5 CFR 550.709(b).) Thus, the agency employing the individual in a time-limited job is liable for any severance payments. In contrast, if a temporary appointment is not qualifying for severance pay because the employee is hired 4 or more days after involuntary separation from a qualifying permanent appointment, the severance pay liability rests with the agency in which the employee had a permanent appointment. Severance payments by that agency are merely suspended during the temporary appointment.
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The applicable statute authorizes severance pay for employees who are "involuntarily separated from the service, not by removal for cause on charges of misconduct, delinquency, or inefficiency." (See 5 U.S.S. 5595(b).) A medical inability to perform one's duties is neither "misconduct" nor "delinquency;" therefore, the precise question is whether removal for such inability constitutes "inefficiency" for severance pay purposes. The legislative history of the severance pay statute suggests at least two guidelines for interpreting its provisions. First, severance pay is intended to help individuals who lose their Federal jobs through no fault of their own. Second, severance pay benefits should be construed liberally in favor of the employee. Accordingly, an employee who is removed for inability to perform his or her duties may receive severance pay if the inability is caused by a medical condition that is beyond the employee's control. This determination should be made by the employing agency based on acceptable medical documentation provided by the employee.
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