Publications

United States Department of Agriculture

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

National Finance Center

P.O. Box 60000 New Orleans Louisiana 70160

This bulletin is being issued to inform users of a new temporary Pay Rate Determinant (PRD) Code T, Below the Minimum Rate, being added for certain senior political appointees. This is being done in accordance with an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law (PL) 113-76 (January 17, 2014)).

This provision requires that the covered senior political appointees receive the 2013 levels of pay beginning on the first day of the first pay period after enactment continuing through the end of the last pay period. The higher pay rates, resulting from pay increases granted to covered individuals on January 12, 2014, will be effective only for the January 12-25, 2014, pay period (Pay Period 01).

Agency Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the Agency to identify their respective political appointees affected by the pay freeze.

As of January 26, 2014, if the Agency has an employee impacted by this pay freeze that is already on a special PRD with the exception of PRD 2, Saved Rate - Indefinite, the employee is to be placed on PRD T during the pay freeze. The employee should be reinstated back to the applicable PRD at the end of the pay freeze (January 26, 2014, through January 10, 2015). Employees on PRD 2 will remain as PRD 2 during the pay freeze due to the special nature of the PRD and the small number of employees with PRD 2. It is the responsibility of the Agency to ensure that these employees do not exceed the 2013 maximums for the Nature of Action Code (NOAC) 890, Misc Pay Adj, entered.

Eligibility

This code will be used only in the following cases:

• For appointees with a fixed rate, such as the Executive Schedule (EX), the frozen
  rate does not match the 2014 scheduled rate (i.e., 2013 frozen EX-III rate does not
  match 2014 EX-III rate).
• For appointees whose pay is set within a defined rate range, the frozen rate is below the minimum rate of the 2014 rate range that normally applies to the employee's position.

Effective Dates

This new PRD Code will remain in effect from January 26, 2014, through January 10, 2015.

Personnel Action

For employees meeting the eligibility criteria described above, Agencies must process a personnel action effective Pay Period 02, 2014 (January 26, 2014). The personnel action must contain the following:

• Nature of Action Code (NOAC) 890, Misc Pay Adj
• Authority Code ZLM
• Literal P.L. 113-76
• Remark Code P83

National Finance Center (NFC) Systems

The following NFC systems will be modified to accommodate this change:

• Web-based Entry, Processing, Inquiry, and Correction System (EPIC Web) - A new option, T Below the Minimum Rate, is being added to the Pay Rate Determinant field in EPIC Web.
• Personnel Edit and Input System (PINE) - PINE will be updated to ensure that those employees affected by the pay freeze as identified by PRD T do not have an adjusted pay rate above the maximum rate of the 2013 EX Pay Plan rate range that applies to the employee's position. OPM will lift any Enterprise Human Resources Initiative (EHRI) edits preventing salary below the 2014 pay scales when PRD T is used.

Note: The option, Below the Minimum Rate, on the Pay Rate Determinant field is being used to enter PRD T in EmpowHR.

Payroll/Personnel Procedures

The procedure manuals for these applications, which are available online at the NFC Web site, are being updated to include the information in this bulletin. To view and/or print these procedures, go to the NFC Home Page ( https://www.nfc.usda.gov) and click the Publications link at the top of the page. At the Publications page's left-hand menu, select the applicable publication category to access the procedure manuals within that category.

Inquiries

For questions about NFC processing, authorized Servicing Personnel Office representatives should contact the NFC Contact Center at 1-855-NFC-4GOV (1-855-632-4468) or via the Internet using the Requester Console.

/s/ GARY MILLET for
ANITA H. FINCHER, Director
Government Employees Services Division