On February 16, OPM Acting Director Kathleen McGettigan released a memo entitled “Recent Pay and Leave-Related Legislative Changes.” McGettigan wrote, “This is to inform you of several legislative changes and extensions affecting federal employee pay and certain benefits” resulting from enactment of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 (P.L. 116-283) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 260).

The memo summarized the following changes within the FY2021 NDAA:

•         Section 611 – Reserve Income Replacement Program: To extend the expiration date for the Reserve Income Replacement Program from December 31, 2020, to December 31, 2021. The Reserve Income Replacement Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and provides income replacement payments for certain reserve component members experiencing extended and frequent mobilization for active duty service.  

•         Section 1103 – Paid Parental Leave Technical Corrections: This section, supported by FMA, makes technical amendments related to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, including paid parental leave.

•         Section 1105 – 1-Year Extension of Authority to Waive Annual Limitation on Premium Pay and Aggregate Limitation on Pay for Certain Federal Civilian Employees Working Overseas 

•         Section 1106 – 1-Year Extension of Discretionary Authority to Grant Allowances, Benefits, and Gratuities to Personnel on Official Duty in a Combat Zone: FMA supported this provision, which “grants the head of an agency the discretionary authority until the end of fiscal year 2022 (i.e., September 30, 2022), to provide an individual employed by, or assigned or detailed to, the agency, allowances, benefits, and gratuities comparable to those provided by the Secretary of State to members of the Foreign Service under section 413 and chapter 9 of title I of the Foreign Service Act of 1980.”

•         Section 1111 – Temporary Increase in Limitation on Accumulation of Annual Leave for Executive Branch Employees: FMA strongly supported this provision in the NDAA, which provides the Director of OPM with discretionary authority to establish, for eligible Executive branch employees, a higher annual leave carryover limit—125 percent of the limit that would otherwise apply to a given employee—to be applied at the beginning of the 2021 leave year (January 3, 2021, for most employees).  

•         Section 1113 – Extension of Rate of Overtime Pay Authority for Department of the Navy Employees Performing Work Aboard or Dockside in Support of the Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier Forward Deployed in Japan.

To read the full memo, please click here.