1886 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 9 / Wednesday, January 14, 2015 / Notices 

1FSIS can bill basetime, overtime, and holiday 

rates on the quarter hour. Accordingly, the 2015 

overtime and holiday rates were rounded down so 

that rates can equally be divided by 4 (to 2 decimal 

places). 

2 Ibid. 

Total Burden Hours: 63. 

Charlene Parker, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00408 Filed 1–13–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket Number FSIS–2014–0038] 

RIN 0583–AD40 

2015 Rate Changes for the Basetime, 

Overtime, Holiday, and Laboratory 

Services Rates 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing 

the 2015 rates that it will charge meat 

and poultry establishments, egg 

products plants, and importers and 

exporters for providing voluntary, 

overtime, and holiday inspection and 

identification, certification, and 

laboratory services. The 2015 basetime, 

overtime, holiday, and laboratory 

services rates will be applied beginning 

the first FSIS pay period approximately 

30 days after the publication of this 

notice. This pay period begins on 

February 22, 2015. 

DATES: FSIS will charge the rates 

announced in this notice beginning 

February 22, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Michael 

Toner, Director, Budget Division, Office 

of Management, FSIS, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Room 2159, South 

Building, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20250–3700; 

Telephone: (202) 690–8398, Fax: (202) 

690–4155. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On April 12, 2011, FSIS published a 

final rule amending its regulations to 

establish formulas for calculating the 

rates it charges meat and poultry 

establishments, egg products plants, and 

importers and exporters for providing 

voluntary, overtime, and holiday 

inspection and identification, 

certification, and laboratory services (76 

FR 20220). 

In the final rule, FSIS stated that it 

would use the formulas to calculate the 

annual rates, publish the rates in a 

Federal Register notice before the start 

of each calendar year and apply the 

rates on the first FSIS pay period at the 

beginning of the calendar year. 

This notice announces the 2015 rates, 

which will be applied starting on 

February 22, 2015. 

2015 Rates and Calculations 

The following table lists the 2015 

Rates per hour, per employee, by type 

of service: 

Service 

2015 Rate 

(estimates 

rounded to 

reflect billable 

quarters) 

Basetime ............................... $55.60 

Overtime ............................... 70.28 

Holiday .................................. 85.00 

Laboratory ............................. 70.52 

The regulations state that FSIS will 

calculate the rates using formulas that 

include the Office of Field Operations 

(OFO) and Office of International Affairs 

(OIA) inspection program personnel’s 

previous fiscal year’s regular direct pay 

and regular hours (9 CFR 391.2, 391.3, 

391.4, 590.126, 590.128, 592.510, 

592.520, and 592.530). In 2013, an 

Agency reorganization eliminated the 

OIA program office and transferred all 

of its inspection program personnel to 

OFO. Therefore, pay and hours of 

inspection program personnel are 

identified in the calculations as ‘‘OFO 

inspection program personnel’s’’ pay 

and hours. 

FSIS determined the 2015 rates using 

the following calculations: 

Basetime Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the OFO inspection program 

personnel’s previous fiscal year’s 

regular direct pay by the previous fiscal 

year’s regular hours, plus the quotient 

multiplied by the calendar year’s 

percentage of cost of living increase, 

plus the benefits rate, plus the travel 

and operating rate, plus the overhead 

rate, plus the allowance for bad debt 

rate. 

The calculation for the 2015 basetime 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2014 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by the previous fiscal year’s 

Regular Hours ($396,361,959/

13,707,069)] = $28.91 + ($28.91 * 1.7% 

(calendar year 2015 Cost of Living 

Increase)) = $29.41 + $8.78 (benefits 

rate) + $.79 (travel and operating rate) + 

$16.61 (overhead rate) + $.02 (bad debt 

allowance rate) = $55.60. 

Overtime Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the Office OFO inspection 

program personnel’s previous fiscal 

year’s regular direct pay by the previous 

fiscal year’s regular hours, plus that 

quotient multiplied by the calendar 

year’s percentage of cost of living 

increase, multiplied by 1.5 (for 

overtime), plus the benefits rate, plus 

the travel and operating rate, plus the 

overhead rate, plus the allowance for 

bad debt rate. 

The calculation for the 2015 overtime 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2014 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by previous fiscal year’s Regular 

Hours ($396,361,959/13,707,069)]= 

$28.91 + ($28.91 * 1.7% (calendar year 

2015 Cost of Living Increase)) = $29.41 

* 1.5 = $44.11 + $8.78 (benefits rate) + 

$.79 (travel and operating rate) + $16.61 

(overhead rate) + $.02 (bad debt 

allowance rate) = $70.30 (rounded to 

$70.28).1

Holiday Rate = The quotient of 

dividing the OFO inspection program 

personnel’s previous fiscal year’s 

regular direct pay by the previous fiscal 

year’s regular hours, plus that quotient 

multiplied by the calendar year’s 

percentage of cost of living increase, 

multiplied by 2 (for holiday pay), plus 

the benefits rate, plus the travel and 

operating rate, plus the overhead rate, 

plus the allowance for bad debt rate. 

The calculation for the 2015 holiday 

rate per hour per program employee 

calculation is: 

[FY 2014 OFO Regular Direct Pay 

divided by Regular Hours 

($396,361,959/13,707,069)] = $28.91 + 

($28.91 * 1.7% (calendar year 2015 Cost 

of Living Increase)) = $29.41 * 2 = 

$58.82 + $8.78 (benefits rate) + $.79 

(travel and operating rate) + $16.61 

(overhead rate) + $.02 (bad debt 

allowance rate) = $85.00.2

Laboratory Services Rate = The 

quotient of dividing the Office of Public 

Health Science (OPHS) previous fiscal 

year’s regular direct pay by the OPHS 

previous fiscal year’s regular hours, plus 

the quotient multiplied by the calendar 

year’s percentage cost of living increase, 

plus the benefits rate, plus the travel 

and operating rate, plus the overhead 

rate, plus the allowance for bad debt 

rate. 

The calculation for the 2015 

laboratory services rate per hour per 

program employee is: 

[FY 2014 OPHS Regular Direct Pay/

OPHS Regular hours ($24,061,554/

551,995)] = $43.59 + ($43.59 * 1.7% 

(calendar year 2015 Cost of Living 

Increase)) = $44.33 + $8.78 (benefits 

rate) + $.79 (travel and operating rate) + 

$16.61 (overhead rate) + $.02 (bad debt 

allowance rate) = $70.52. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 9 / Wednesday, January 14, 2015 / Notices 1887 

Calculations for the Benefits, Travel 

and Operating, Overhead, and 

Allowance for Bad Debt Rates 

These rates are components of the 

basetime, overtime, holiday, and 

laboratory services rates formulas. 

Benefits Rate: The quotient of 

dividing the previous fiscal year’s direct 

benefits costs by the previous fiscal 

year’s total hours (regular, overtime, and 

holiday), plus that quotient multiplied 

by the calendar year’s percentage cost of 

living increase. Some examples of direct 

benefits are health insurance, 

retirement, life insurance, and Thrift 

Savings Plan basic and matching 

contributions. 

The calculation for the 2015 benefits 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2014 Direct Benefits/(Total 

Regular hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) ($140,056,558/

16,226,581)] = $8.63 + ($8.63 * 1.8% 

(calendar year 2015 Cost of Living 

Increase) = $8.78. 

Travel and Operating Rate: The 

quotient of dividing the previous fiscal 

year’s total direct travel and operating 

costs by the previous fiscal year’s total 

hours (regular, overtime, and holiday), 

plus that quotient multiplied by the 

calendar year’s percentage of inflation. 

The calculation for the 2015 travel 

and operating rate per hour per program 

employee is: 

[FY 2014 Total Direct Travel and 

Operating Costs/(Total Regular hours + 

Total Overtime hours + Total Holiday 

hours) ($12,514,065/16,226,581)] = $.77 

+ ($.77 * 1.8% (2015 Inflation) = $.79. 

Overhead Rate: The quotient of 

dividing the previous fiscal year’s 

indirect costs plus the previous fiscal 

year’s information technology (IT) costs 

in the Public Health Data 

Communication Infrastructure System 

Fund plus the previous fiscal year’s 

Office of Management Program cost in 

the Reimbursable and Voluntary Funds 

plus the provision for the operating 

balance less any Greenbook costs (i.e., 

costs of USDA support services prorated 

to the service component for which fees 

are charged) that are not related to food 

inspection by the previous fiscal year’s 

total hours (regular, overtime, and 

holiday) worked across all funds, plus 

the quotient multiplied by the calendar 

year’s percentage of inflation. 

The calculation for the 2015 overhead 

rate per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2014 Total Overhead/(Total 

Regular hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) ($264,700,950/

16,226,581)] = $16.31 + ($16.31 * 1.8% 

(2015 Inflation) = $16.61. 

Allowance for Bad Debt Rate = 

Previous fiscal year’s total allowance for 

bad debt (for example, debt owed that 

is not paid in full by plants and 

establishments that declare bankruptcy) 

divided by previous fiscal year’s total 

hours (regular, overtime, and holiday) 

worked. 

The 2015 calculation for bad debt rate 

per hour per program employee is: 

[FY 2014 Total Bad Debt/(Total 

Regular hours + Total Overtime hours + 

Total Holiday hours) = ($365,480/

16,226,581)] = $.02. 

Additional Public Notification 

Public awareness of all segments of 

rulemaking and policy development is 

important. Consequently, FSIS will 

announce this Federal Register 

publication on-line through the FSIS 

Web page located at: http://

www.fsis.usda.gov/federal-register. 

FSIS also will make copies of this 

publication available through the FSIS 

Constituent Update, which is used to 

provide information regarding FSIS 

policies, procedures, regulations, 

Federal Register notices, FSIS public 

meetings, and other types of information 

that could affect or would be of interest 

to our constituents and stakeholders. 

The Update is available on the FSIS 

Web page. Through the Web page, FSIS 

is able to provide information to a much 

broader, more diverse audience. In 

addition, FSIS offers an email 

subscription service which provides 

automatic and customized access to 

selected food safety news and 

information. This service is available at: 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/subscribe. 

Options range from recalls to export 

information, regulations, directives, and 

notices. Customers can add or delete 

subscriptions themselves, and have the 

option to password protect their 

accounts. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Statement 

No agency, officer, or employee of the 

USDA shall, on the grounds of race, 

color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity, sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family/

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, or political 

beliefs, exclude from participation in, 

deny the benefits of, or subject to 

discrimination any person in the United 

States under any program or activity 

conducted by the USDA. 

How To File a Complaint of 

Discrimination 

To file a complaint of discrimination, 

complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, which 

may be accessed online at http://

www.ocio.usda.gov/sites/default/files/

docs/2012/Complain_combined_6_8_

12.pdf, or write a letter signed by you 

or your authorized representative. 

Send your completed complaint form 

or letter to USDA by mail, fax, or email: 

Mail 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20250–9410. 

Fax 

(202) 690–7442. 

Email 

program.intake@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.), 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). 

Done, at Washington, DC, on January 9, 

2015. 

Alfred V. Almanza, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00432 Filed 1–13–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. FSIS–2014–0046] 

Codex Alimentarius Commission: 

Meeting of the Codex Committee on 

Contaminants in Food 

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary 

for Food Safety, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the Under 

Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 

and U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services, are sponsoring a 

public meeting on February 23, 2015. 

The objective of the public meeting is to 

provide information and receive public 

comments on agenda items and draft 

United States (U.S.) positions that will 

be discussed at the 9th Session of the 

Codex Committee on Contaminants in 

Food (CCCF) of the Codex Alimentarius 

Commission (Codex), taking place in 

New Delhi, India, March 16–20, 2015. 

The Deputy Under Secretary for Food 

Safety and FDA recognize the 

importance of providing interested 

parties the opportunity to obtain 

background information on the 9th 

Session of the CCCF and to address 

items on the agenda. 

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled 

for Monday, February 23, 2015, from 

1:00–4:00 p.m. 

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