SAMR-ZA 27 Jul 2010

MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION
SUBJECT: Delegation of Authority - Increased Annual Premium Pay Limitations for Calendar Year 2010

1. Pursuant to the enclosed March 22, 2010 memorandum from the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) (USD(P&R)), employees covered by National Security Personnel System (NSPS), Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS), and other non-NSPS employees are eligible for an increased annual premium pay limitation for calendar year 2010.
2. To be eligible for the increased annual premium pay limitation under the DoD guidance, covered employees must meet the following criteria: (1) perform work while in an overseas location that is in the area of responsibility (AOR) of the Commander of the United States Central Command (US CENTCOM) or an overseas location that was formerly in the AOR of the CENTCOM Commander but has been moved to the AOR of the Commander of the United States Africa Command (US AFRICOM); (2) are subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. § 5547 or a similar limitation otherwise established; (3) are assigned to an overseas location in the US CENTCOM or the US AFRICOM areas of responsibility specified at Appendix A for at least 42 consecutive days; and (4) perform work in direct support of, or directly related to the response to a national emergency declared by the President or a military operation, including a contingency operation as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 101(a)(13). Eligible employees are entitled to premium payments to the extent the employee's combined payable amount of basic pay and premium pay for calendar year 2010 does not exceed the annual rate of salary payable to the Vice President under section 104 of title 3, U.S.C., which is $230,700 for calendar year 2010. In addition, the aggregate pay limitation for total annual compensation established by section 5 U.S.C. § 5307, or other similar limitation, will not apply in calendar year 2010 to any employee granted a premium pay limitation waiver under the DoD policy.
3. Pursuant to the DoD guidance, employees assigned to Iraq and/or Afghanistan for at least 42 consecutive calendar days are deemed to meet the eligibility requirements for the increased annual premium pay limitation. Determinations as to whether employees in the other covered overseas locations meet the eligibility criteria must be made on a case-by-case basis.
4. Under authority delegated to me by the Secretary of the Army, I hereby delegate to the Commanders of the Army Commands, the Commanders of the Army Service Component Commands, the Commanders/Superintendent of the Direct Reporting Units, and the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, the authority to determine when Department of the Army civilian employees under their purview, assigned to locations other than Iraq and/or Afghanistan, meet the eligibility criteria for the increased annual premium pay limitations established in the enclosed DoD guidance. For purposes of this delegation, the Principal Officials of the Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA), their staffs and other elements, Field Operating Agencies, Staff Support Agencies, and those Direct Reporting Units not covered above (to include the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center) fall under the purview of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army.
5. This authority shall be exercised consistent with the enclosed DoD guidance. Commands must also comply with the enclosed Department of the Army Reporting Instructions - Increased Annual Premium Pay Limitation Calendar Year (CY) 2010. The Assistant G-1 for Civilian Personnel will provide a report to me, as soon as practicable after the close of the calendar year, regarding the employees to whom the increased annual premium pay limitation for calendar year 2010 is applied.
6. Unless expressly prohibited or restricted by law, directive, regulation, or policy, or as set forth herein, you may re-delegate this authority to other Department of the Army officials, to a level no lower than activity commander or civilian head of an activity. Should you elect to re-delegate this authority, you may further restrict or condition your delegate's exercise of same. A re-delegation of authority shall not be effective unless it is in writing, signed by you and has been determined not to be legally objectionable upon review by the Office of the Army General Counsel. No re-delegation shall take effect until a record copy of same has been provided to the Office of the Administrative Assistant for archiving. I will hold you responsible for any and all actions taken pursuant to this delegation or any re-delegation thereof.
7. Although not a limitation on your authority to act in my behalf, in those cases specified above where your proposed decision represents a change in precedent or policy; is of significant White House, Congressional, Department, or public interest; or has been, or should be, of interest or concern to me, for any reason, you will brief me prior to the decision, unless the exigencies of the situation preclude such action. Continue my practice of coordination with the Office of the Army General Counsel.
8. This delegation is effective immediately and expires September 30, 2013, unless earlier suspended, revoked or superseded.
9. To the extent this memorandum impacts bargaining unit employees' conditions of employment, activities are reminded to meet their statutory labor relations obligations in its implementation.

Enclosures
1. March 22, 2010 memorandum from the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)

2. Department of the Army Reporting Instructions Increased Annual Premium Pay Limitation Calendar Year (CY) 2010

Department of the Army Reporting Instructions Increased Annual Premium Pay Limitation Calendar Year (CY) 2010

On March 22, 2010, the Under Secretary of Defense issued DoD guidance continuing an increased annual premium pay limitation into 2010 for eligible employees working in the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and US African Command (AFRICOM) Areas of Responsibility (AOR). The CY 2010 period of entitlement is 20 December 2009 through 18 December 2010 and the increased limit is $230,700. These dates are based on when the money is paid (i.e., salary for pay period 20 December 2009 to 2 January 2010 is paid on 14 January 2010 within CY 2010; salary for pay period 5-18 December 2010 is paid on 30 December 2010 which is also in CY 2010; but salary for pay period 19 December 2010 to 1 January 2011 will be paid on 13 January 2011 and is not covered in the CY 2010 entitlement).

This year, as in 2009, the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of Army, Army Commands, Army Service Component Commands, and Direct Reporting Units will submit to the Civilian Human Resources Agency (CHRA) point of contact: email address: rhonda.lindsey@us.army.mil, the names and contact information for a primary POC and an alternate POC. In addition, those command POCs must send an email with their certificate to these email addresses to allow for encrypted email messages being received and sent. The established POCs will submit an EXCEL spreadsheet with the name, SSN, Pay Plan, Series and Grade/Level, Beginning Date of Entitlement (no earlier than 20 December 2009), Termination Date of Entitlement (if the employee has already returned from deployment), command code, unit identification code (UIC), the primary country of deployment, and the date the spreadsheet was submitted to CHRA in the format designated in the attached template (CENTCOM Prem Pay Ind 2010.xls). A memorandum signed by the authorized management official - no lower than the commander or the civilian equivalent head of an activity - with the authority to certify employee eligibility is required to authorize the increased annual premium pay limitation for employees serving in the AOR. The memorandum must be on file at the servicing command and include a statement that certifies the employees listed have been or will be in the covered AOR for the required 42 consecutive days and meet all other criteria in the DoD guidance. Only these employees should be included on the spreadsheet. For those employees who became eligible for the 2010 increased annual premium pay limitation prior to the issuance of the DoD/Army implementation guidance and who have already terminated their deployment, both the beginning and the termination date of deployment should be annotated on the initial spreadsheet. No future dates for beginning the entitlement or terminating the entitlement can be accepted.

A single spreadsheet from each Army Command, Army Service Component Command, and Direct Reporting Unit should be submitted for each pay period listing only those employees who qualify no earlier than the current pay period ending (PPE) date. (Note: The initial spreadsheet should include all employees eligible between 20 December 2009 and the time the DoD/Army implementation guidance was issued). Each employee's name/SSN will be initially reported once. The commencement date for reporting this information will coincide with the issuance of applicable DoD/Army implementation guidance. The spreadsheet should be encrypted and submitted to email addresses: rhonda.lindsey@us.army.mil, jennifer.humpherys@us.army.mil, and sandiann.engh@us.army.mil. Spreadsheets submitted from someone other than the designated primary or alternate command POC will be returned unprocessed. The spreadsheet should be provided as soon as the eligibility is confirmed to ensure proper payment quickly.

If there are no employees to report, a one-time memorandum should be submitted to CHRA addresses: rhonda.lindsey@us.army.mil, jennifer.humpherys@us.army.mil, and sandiann.engh@us.army.mil stating the command has no employees eligible as of the date that the procedure is started. This step will serve as notification that no action is needed for the command or unit at this time.

Initial spreadsheet processing: Once the initial spreadsheet is received at CHRA from the commands, additional data from the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS) will be added to the submitted spreadsheet and the consolidated spreadsheet will be provided to the Civilian Personnel Management Service (CPMS) to run an automated script to code the entitlement into DCPDS. Once the entitlement code is entered into the personnel automated system, it will flow to the payroll automated system (the Defense Civilian Payroll System (DCPS)). Once DCPS is successfully coded, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) employees will perform additional coding before the eligible employees will receive the money owed to them.

Timelines: Commands are strongly encouraged to include all employees eligible for the 2010 increased annual premium pay limitation up to the time of the DoD/Army guidance issuance in their first spreadsheet submission, which should be submitted as soon as possible after the guidance is issued, (preferably within two weeks of the issuance) to ensure prompt payment for employees.

Additional eligibility spreadsheet processing: For those eligible employees who are not included in the initial spreadsheet or who deploy after the DoD/Army issuance during 2010, additional spreadsheets in the same format should be submitted to the CHRA points of contact: email addresses: rhonda.lindsey@us.army.mil, jennifer.humpherys@us.army.mil, and sandiann.engh@us.army.mil by the second Wednesday of each pay period. Names submitted retroactively (i.e., in one pay period with the effective date in an earlier pay period) will take longer to process because DFAS will need to manually code the action. Names submitted in the same pay period that they are effective should be processed more quickly.

Termination spreadsheet processing: When an employee no longer meets the eligibility criteria for the increased annual premium pay limitation, a separate spreadsheet must be submitted to document the end of the deployment for the listed individuals. The established POCs will submit an EXCEL spreadsheet with the name, SSN, Pay Plan, Series and Grade/Level, Beginning Date of Entitlement (no earlier than 20 December 2009), Termination Date of Entitlement, command code, unit identification code (UIC), the primary country of deployment, and the date the spreadsheet was submitted in the format designated in the attached template (Termination CENTCOM Prem Pay Ind 2010.xls). Coding only the termination date requires separate processing and must be kept separate from the initial entitlement coding. No future dates for terminating the entitlement can be accepted.

Status Updates: The CHRA POCs will provide status of the DCPDS coding to the designated command POCs. Once CHRA notifies the command that the DCPDS coding is completed, status updates on the payment due must come from DFAS. If the command confirms that employee's coding has been accomplished by reviewing the completion lists provided by CHRA, but their salary is still being cutback, the employee should contact their servicing payroll office through their CSR to request the status of the back payment. It is estimated that it will take two pay periods or longer for the retroactive pay to be computed at the payroll office after the DCPDS coding is accomplished. To reduce workload at DFAS, it is recommended to not contact them until the two pay periods have passed after DCPDS coding has been confirmed. The command should keep the impacted employees informed of the status of the coding at the servicing personnel office based on reports received from the CHRA POCs.

The employees listed on the spreadsheet will have the entitlement code for the increased annual premium pay limitation coded into both the payroll and personnel automated systems. The increased annual premium pay limitation will be in effect for the entire year.

All employees that became eligible for the 2010 increased annual premium pay limitation prior to the issuance of the applicable DoD/Army implementation guidance will require manual pay processing at the servicing payroll office. Their salary that was cutback will be restored once the manual processing is completed. If these employees had intervening actions between the time they became eligible and the time the guidance is issued, they will also require manual processing at the servicing personnel office.

The first pay period of eligibility for the $230,700 limitation was PPE January 2, 2010, the first pay period for 2010. The last pay period to be eligible under the policy will be PPE December 18, 2010, which is the last pay period for 2010.

Payments to employees for deferred monies will be made on a current pay period basis against the data in DCPS once the employee has been identified to DFAS.

For NSPS, Non-NSPS and Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) employees, the annual aggregate limit will not apply in calendar year 2010 to any eligible employee. Eligible employees will receive all payments immediately rather than having such payments deferred until 2011.