This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

60097

Vol. 69, No. 194

Thursday, October 7, 2004

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Part 550 

RIN 3206–AK62

Computation of Pay for Biweekly Pay 

Periods

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel 

Management is issuing proposed 

regulations to implement a statutory 

amendment that requires the pay of 

heads of agencies and other designated 

employees to be calculated and paid on 

a biweekly basis instead of on a monthly 

basis. The proposed regulations also 

prescribe the circumstances under 

which an agency may calculate the pay 

of an employee on a biweekly pay 

period basis whose pay otherwise 

would be calculated on a monthly or 

other basis.

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before December 6, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver comments 

to Donald J. Winstead, Deputy Associate 

Director for Pay and Performance 

Policy, Office of Personnel Management, 

Room 7H31, 1900 E Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20415, Fax: (202) 606–

4264, or e-mail at pay-perfomancepolicy@opm.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ronald Genua by telephone at (202) 

606–2858; by Fax at (202) 606–4264; or 

by e-mail at pay-performancepolicy@opm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office 

of Personnel Management (OPM) is 

issuing proposed regulations to 

calculate pay on a biweekly pay period 

basis for employees whose pay was 

formerly calculated on a monthly basis. 

Section 1124 of Public Law 108–136 

(November 24, 2003) amended 5 U.S.C. 

5504 to require the pay of heads of 

agencies (including the heads of 

military departments) to be calculated 

and paid on a biweekly basis instead of 

on a monthly basis. This law also 

amended 5 U.S.C. 5504 to cover 

members of the Foreign Service, the 

Senior Foreign Service, and the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation and Drug 

Enforcement Administration Senior 

Executive Service. In addition, 5 U.S.C. 

5504(c)(3), as amended, allows an 

agency to make exceptions and elect to 

calculate the pay of employees on a 

biweekly pay period basis whose pay 

otherwise would be calculated on a 

monthly or other basis. The law requires 

OPM to issue regulations providing 

guidelines for these exceptions to be 

made. 

Section 1124 became effective on the 

first day of the first pay period 

beginning on or after the date of 

enactment of the Act (November 24, 

2003). Since biweekly pay periods for 

Federal employees begin on a Sunday, 

this provision became effective on 

November 30, 2003, for most officials 

and employees. OPM notified agencies 

of this legislative change on December 

24, 2004, in a memorandum to human 

resources directors. (See http://

www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2003/

2003-21.asp.) 

Computation of Pay 

The change in the method of 

computing pay for heads of agencies 

and other affected employees has no 

effect on the pay they receive for a given 

period of work. Prior to the change in 

5 U.S.C. 5504, the heads of agencies 

received a full month’s pay for each full 

month of service (or fraction thereof). 

For monthly pay computations, an 

employee’s annual salary was divided 

by 12 to determine the monthly amount. 

Under the new law, these employees 

receive a full pay period’s worth of pay 

for each full pay period of service (or 

fraction thereof). For biweekly pay 

computations, an employee’s annual 

salary is divided by 2,087 to determine 

an hourly rate, and the hourly rate is 

multiplied by 80 to determine the 

biweekly rate. 

Employees Covered 

As a result of the amendment to 5 

U.S.C. 5504, the pay of most Federal 

employees in executive branch agencies 

is calculated on a biweekly pay period 

basis. However, some categories of 

employees continue to be excluded 

because they are excluded from the 

definition of ‘‘employee’’ in 5 U.S.C. 

5541(2) (except as provided in 5 U.S.C. 

5504(c)(2)(B)). For example, members of 

the Uniformed Division of the Secret 

Service and the U.S. Park Police are not 

covered by 5 U.S.C. 5504 because they 

are excluded from the definition of 

‘‘employee’’ by 5 U.S.C. 5541(2)(iv). 

However, agencies may have established 

biweekly pay period computations for 

such employees under separate legal 

authority. 

Exceptions 

In § 550.605, OPM proposes to allow 

an agency under certain circumstances 

to deem that an otherwise excluded 

employee meets the definition of a 

covered employee under § 550.602 for 

the purpose of computing his or her pay 

on a biweekly pay period basis. OPM 

proposes to allow agencies to make 

exceptions in situations where 

continuing to calculate an employee’s 

pay on a monthly or other basis would 

diminish the level of services provided 

to the public by the agency. In addition, 

we propose to allow an agency head or 

designee to make an exception to 

include otherwise excluded employees 

when he or she determines that 

computing the pay of such employees 

under the rules in 5 U.S.C. 5504 would 

provide cost savings in agency 

operations. If an agency chooses to make 

such an exception, an employee’s 

hourly rate of pay would be calculated 

by using a divisor of 2,087. Each agency 

that decides to make an exception under 

§ 550.605 must notify OPM in writing of 

any exceptions made under that 

authority. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

I certify that these regulations would 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

because they would affect only Federal 

agencies and employees. 

E.O. 12866, Regulatory Review 

This rule has been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget in 

accordance with Executive Order 12866.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 550 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Claims, Government 

employees, Wages.

60098 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 194 / Thursday, October 7, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

Office of Personnel Management. 

Kay Coles James, 

Director.

Accordingly, OPM is proposing to 

amend part 550 of title 5 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 550—PAY ADMINISTRATION 

(GENERAL) 

1. A new subpart F is added to part 

550 to read as follows:

Subpart F—Computation of Pay for 

Biweekly Pay Periods 

Sec. 

550.601 Purpose. 

550.602 Coverage. 

550.603 Definitions. 

550.604 Biweekly pay periods and 

computation of pay. 

550.605 Exceptions. 

550.606 Reporting exceptions to OPM.

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5504; Pub. L. 108–136, 

117 Stet. 1637.

Subpart F—Computation of Pay for 

Biweekly Pay Periods

§ 550.601 Purpose. 

This subpart provides regulations to 

implement 5 U.S.C. 5504 to compute 

pay on a biweekly pay period basis for 

employees in an agency, as defined in 

§ 550.603.

§ 550.602 Coverage. 

(a) This subpart applies to—

(1) An employee in or under an 

agency, except an employee excluded 

by paragraph (b) of this section; 

(2) The head of an agency; 

(3) The head of a military department, 

as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102; 

(4) A Foreign Service officer; 

(5) A member of the Senior Foreign 

Service; 

(6) A member of the Senior Executive 

Service; or 

(7) A member of the Federal Bureau 

of Investigation and Drug Enforcement 

Administration Senior Executive 

Service. 

(b) This subpart does not apply to—

(1) An employee on the Isthmus of 

Panama in the service of the Panama 

Canal Commission; or 

(2) An employee or individual 

excluded from the definition of 

employee in 5 U.S.C. 5541(2), except 

employees excluded by 5 U.S.C. 

5541(2)(ii), (iii), and (xiv) through (xvii) 

are covered by this subpart.

§ 550.603 Definitions. 

In this subpart—

Agency means an executive agency, as 

defined in 5 U.S.C. 105. 

Employee has the meaning given that 

term in 5 U.S.C. 2105.

§ 550.604 Biweekly pay periods and 

computation of pay. 

Agencies must apply the biweekly 

pay period and computation of pay 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5504 for 

employees covered by § 550.602(a).

§ 550.605 Exceptions. 

An agency head or designee may 

deem that an employee excluded from 

coverage under § 550.602(b)(2) is 

covered by 5 U.S.C. 5504 in situations 

where he or she determines that 

continuing to calculate the pay of such 

employees on a monthly or other basis 

would diminish the level of services 

provided to the public by the agency. 

An agency head or designee also may 

deem that otherwise excluded 

employees are covered by 5 U.S.C. 5504 

when he or she determines that 

computing the pay of such employees 

under that provision of law would 

provide cost savings in agency 

operations.

§ 550.606 Reporting exceptions to OPM. 

Each agency must notify OPM in 

writing of any exceptions made under 

§ 550.605.

[FR Doc. 04–22530 Filed 10–6–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–39–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2004–19264; Directorate 

Identifier 2004–NM–90–AD] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model 

A319, A320, and A321 Series Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a 

new airworthiness directive (AD) for 

certain Airbus Model A319, A320, and 

A321 series airplanes. This proposed 

AD would require modification of 

certain auxiliary power unit (APU) 

alternating current (AC) generators. This 

proposed AD is prompted by a report of 

an explosion in the APU compartment, 

which blew open the compartment 

doors. We are proposing this AD to 

prevent oil vapor leakage from the APU 

AC generator, which, when combined 

with an electric arc at the electrical 

receptacle, could result in a fire or 

explosion in the APU compartment 

during flight.

DATES: We must receive comments on 

this proposed AD by November 22, 

2004.

ADDRESSES: Use one of the following 

addresses to submit comments on this 

proposed AD. 

• DOT Docket Web site: Go to

http://dms.dot.gov and follow the 

instructions for sending your comments 

electronically. 

• Government-wide Rulemaking Web 

site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov

and follow the instructions for sending 

your comments electronically. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 

Seventh Street SW., Nassif Building, 

room PL–401, Washington, DC 20590. 

• By Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

• Hand Delivery: Room PL–401 on 

the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 

400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

For service information identified in 

this proposed AD, contact Airbus, 1 

Rond Point Maurice Bellonte, 31707 

Blagnac Cedex, France. 

You can examine the contents of this 

AD docket on the Internet at http://

dms.dot.gov, or at the Docket 

Management Facility, U.S. Department 

of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street 

SW., room PL–401, on the plaza level of 

the Nassif Building, Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Technical information: Tim Dulin, 

Aerospace Engineer, International 

Branch, ANM–116, FAA, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, 1601 Lind 

Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 

98055–4056; telephone (425) 227–2141; 

fax (425) 227–1149. 

Plain language information: Marcia 

Walters, marcia.walters@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Docket Management System (DMS) 

The FAA has implemented new 

procedures for maintaining AD dockets 

electronically. As of May 17, 2004, new 

AD actions are posted on DMS and 

assigned a docket number. We track 

each action and assign a corresponding 

directorate identifier. The DMS AD 

docket number is in the form ‘‘Docket 

No. FAA–2004–99999.’’ The Transport 

Airplane Directorate identifier is in the 

form ‘‘Directorate Identifier 2004–NM–

999–AD.’’ Each DMS AD docket also 

lists the directorate identifier (‘‘Old 

Docket Number’’) as a cross-reference 

for searching purposes. 

Comments Invited 

We invite you to submit any relevant 

written data, views, or arguments 

regarding this proposed AD. Send your