Premium Pay Policy Changes Coming

Effective April 27, several changes will be made regarding limitations on overtime and other types of premium pay such as Sunday, holiday and night pay. One change will affect the “premium pay cap,” which currently prevents employees from earning more biweekly, counting their regular salaries plus premium pay, than the local rate of a GS-15, step 10 (currently ranging by locality from $116,633 to $127,798). The cap will be set according to the higher of either that rate or the biweekly rate of an Executive Level V employee (currently making $121,600 annually). Further, agency heads will be able to waive the biweekly cap for employees performing work deemed “critical to the agency’s mission” and not just in emergencies that threaten life or property. However, employees still will be subject to a total pay cap on a calendar year basis of the higher of those two rates.