Federal Employees' Overtime Pay Limitation Amendments Act of 2000

Summary: Revises provisions regarding limitations on premium pay to: (1) allow an employee to be paid premium pay under certain circumstances only to the extent that the payment does not cause the aggregate of basic pay and such premium pay to exceed the greater of the maximum rate of basic pay payable for GS-15 or the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule; (2) provide that such limitation shall not apply to an employee who is paid premium pay by reason of work in connection with an emergency; (3) prohibit such an employee from being paid such pay if, or to the extent that, the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay would, in any calendar year, exceed the greater of the maximum rate of basic pay payable for GS-15 or the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule; (4) authorize the Office of Personnel Management to prescribe regulations governing the applicability of the two preceding amendments to employees who are in receipt of annual premium pay for standby duty or administratively uncontrollable overtime work or availability pay for criminal investigators; and (5) prohibit applying such provisions to certain employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense.

That this Act may be 
cited as the ``Federal Employees' Overtime Pay Limitation Amendments 
Act of 2000''.
    Sec. 2. (a) Title 5, United States Code is amended--
            (1) in section 5542(a)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) For an employee whose basic pay is at a rate which 
        exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for GS-10 (including any 
        applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 
        5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special 
        rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of law), 
        the overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to the 
        greater of--
                  ``(A) one and one-half times the minimum hourly rate 
                of basic pay for GS-10 (including any applicable 
                locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 
                or similar provision of law and any applicable special 
                rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of 
                law); or
                    ``(B) the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee 
                (including any applicable locality-based comparability 
                payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law 
                and any applicable special rate of pay under section 
                5305 or similar provision of law),
        and all that amount is premium pay,''; and
                    (B) by amending paragraph (4) to read as follows:
            ``(4) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), for any pay 
        period during which an employee is engaged in work in 
        connection with an emergency (including a wildfire emergency) 
        that involves a direct threat to life or property, including 
        work performed in the aftermath of such an emergency, the 
        overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one and one-
        half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee, except 
        that such overtime hourly rate of pay may not exceed the 
        greater of--
                    ``(A) one and one-half times the minimum hourly 
                rate of basic pay for GS-12 (including any applicable 
                locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 
                or similar provision of law but excluding any 
                applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or 
                similar provision of law); or
                    ``(B) the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee 
                (including any applicable locality-based comparability 
                payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law 
                and any applicable special rate of pay under section 
                5305 or similar provision of law),
        and all that amount is premium pay. A determination as to the 
        existence and duration of such an emergency and its aftermath, 
        and whether work is connected to it, shall be made at the 
        discretion of the head of the agency (or his or her designee) 
        in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management 
        and Budget.''; and
            (2) in section 5547--
                    (A) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
    ``(a) An employee may be paid premium pay under sections 5542, 5545 
(a), (b), and (c), 5545a, and 5546 (a) and (b) only to the extent that 
the payment does not cause the aggregate of basic pay and such premium 
pay for any pay period for such employee to exceed the greater of--
            ``(1) the maximum rate of basic pay payable for GS-15 
        (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment 
        under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any 
        applicable special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar 
        provision of law); or
            ``(2) the rate payable for level V of the Executive 
        Schedule.'';
                    (B) by amending subsection (b)(1) to read:
            ``(1) Subject to regulations prescribed by the Office of 
        Personnel Management, the first sentence of subsection (a) 
        shall not apply to an employee who is paid premium pay by 
        reason of work in connection with an emergency as specified 
        under section 5542(a)(4).'';
                    (C) by amending subsection (b)(2) to read as 
                follows:
            ``(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no employee referred 
        to in such paragraph may be paid premium pay under the 
        provisions of law cited in the first sentence of subsection (a) 
        if, or to the extent that, the aggregate of the basic pay and 
        premium pay under those provisions for such employee would, in 
        any calendar year, exceed the greater of--
                    ``(A) the maximum rate of basic pay payable for GS-
                15 in effect at the end of such calendar year 
                (including any applicable locality-based comparability 
                payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law 
                and any applicable special rate of pay under section 
                5305 or similar provision of law); or
                    ``(B) the rate payable for level V of the Executive 
                Schedule in effect at the end of such calendar year.'';
                    (D) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
    ``(c) The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations 
governing the applicability of subsection (b) to employees who are in 
receipt of annual premium pay for standby duty or administratively 
uncontrollable overtime work under section 5545(c) or availability pay 
for criminal investigators under section 5545a.'', and
                    (E) by adding at the end:
    ``(d) This section shall not apply to any employee of the Federal 
Aviation Administration or the Department of Defense who is paid 
premium pay under section 5546a.'',
    (b) The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the 
first day of the first pay period beginning on or after 120 days 
following the date of enactment of this Act.