Special limitations on pay for wildland firefighters

(a) In general Title 5, United States Code, is amended— (1) by inserting after section 5547 the following: 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged in wildland firefighting (a) In this section— (1) the term covered employee means an employee of the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior who— (A) qualifies as a wildland firefighter based on the definitions of firefighter and wildland firefighter in section 5332a(a); or (B) is certified by the applicable agency to perform wildland fire incident related duties during the period such employee is assigned to a qualifying incident; (2) the term covered services means services performed by an employee that are determined by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as applicable, to primarily involve emergency wildfire suppression activities, including any periods of duty when the employee is sleeping or resting during an extended period of deployment to engage in those activities; (3) the term emergency wildland fire suppression activities means initial-response and extended-response activities that directly relate to suppression of a wildfire, including activities associated with a severity incident but excluding activities associated with a prescribed fire incident (as those terms are defined section 5545c); and (4) the term premium pay means the premium pay paid under the provisions of law cited in section 5547(a), except as otherwise provided in subsection (h). (b) Any premium pay earned by a covered employee for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate of such employee’s basic pay and premium pay for purposes of applying a limitation under section 5547. (c) Any premium pay that is disregarded under subsection (b) shall be disregarded in calculating such employee’s aggregate pay for purposes of applying the limitation in section 5307. (d) Pay that is disregarded under subsection (b) may not be paid to the extent it would cause the aggregate of the employee’s basic pay, premium pay, and hazard pay under section 5545(d) payable in the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at the end of such calendar year. Any premium pay that is subject to a biweekly limitation under section 5547(c) must be paid first before other premium pay in applying the level II limitation. (e) Application of the limit in subsection (d) or subsection (h) to a covered employee may be waived at the sole and exclusive discretion of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as applicable. Before authorizing such a waiver for employees of their respective agencies, each Secretary, after consulting with the other Secretary, shall prescribe criteria that will be applied in making a determination to grant a waiver. (f) Any additional pay resulting from application of this section may not be used in computing a lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 or section 5552. (g) The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture shall maintain records that document uses of the authority provided by this section. (h) (1) For prevailing rate employees described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) who meet the requirements in subsection (a)(l) to qualify as a covered employee, premium pay may not be paid to the extent it would cause the aggregate of the employee’s basic pay and premium pay in the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at the end of such calendar year. (2) For the purposes of this subsection, the term basic pay means wages, environmental differential pay, and night shift differential pay, and the term premium pay means overtime pay, Sunday premium pay, and holiday premium pay.; and (2) in section 5541(2)(xi), by inserting, section 5547a(h), after section 5544. (b) Calendar year 2026 For the purpose of applying section 5547 and section 1701 of division B of Public Law 117–43 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) in calendar year 2026, incident standby premium pay shall be included in premium pay that is subject to the limits established in those sections. (c) Effective date The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first pay period that has a payment date in January 2027. Subsection (b) shall be effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after October 1, 2026. (d) Clerical amendment The table of sections for chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, is further amended by inserting after the item for section 5547 the following new item: 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged in wildland firefighting..