The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2004
provides for a number of changes regarding pay and leave
administration, benefits and other policies, the Office of
Personnel Management said in a memorandum for human
resources officers.
It said the act allows the Secretary of Defense and the
Director of OPM to establish a new human resources
management system (including a new labor relations system)
for Department of Defense employees.
As for mobilized federal civilian employees performing
full-time military service in support of a contingency
operation, they get 22 days of military leave each calendar
year, and their pay must be credited against any federal
civilian pay the employee received during the 22 workdays
of military leave. The employee is also entitled to the
greater of civilian or military pay, but an employee can
take annual leave instead of military leave and retain both
civilian and military pay, said OPM.
The act says executive agencies must conduct an annual
employee survey to assess executive leadership and
management practices, and employee satisfaction, for which
OPM will issue implementation regulations in 2004.
The act also states the senior executive service is
entering a performance based pay system for which
locality-based comparability payments are discontinued.
(A separate memo on the new SES pay system is available at
http://www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2003/2003-19.asp.
For additional information, agency chief human capital
officers or HR directors should contact OPM human capital
officers, and employees should contact their agency HR
offices for assistance.
For the full memo go to
