For any pay period in which the head of an agency (or designee), or the Office of Personnel Management on its own motion, determines that an emergency exists, the agency must pay an affected employee premium pay under the limitations described in paragraph (c) of this section and § 550.107 instead of under the biweekly limitation described in § 550.105(a). An employee is affected if he or she has been determined by the head of the agency (or designee) to be performing work in connection with the emergency or its aftermath. (See definition of “emergency” in § 550.103.)

The head of an agency (or designee) must make the determination under paragraph (a)(1) of this section as soon as practicable after the work in connection with the emergency or its aftermath begins. Entitlement to premium pay under this annual limitation becomes effective on the first day of the pay period in which such work began.

For any pay period in which the head of an agency (or designee), in his or her sole discretion, determines that an employee is needed to perform work that is critical to the mission of the agency, the agency may pay premium pay under the limitations described in paragraph (c) of this section and § 550.107 instead of under the biweekly limitation described in § 550.105(a).

Entitlement to premium pay under this annual limitation becomes effective on the first day of the pay period designated by the head of the agency (or designee).

In any calendar year during which an employee has been determined to be performing emergency or mission-critical work as provided in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section, the employee may receive premium pay under this subpart (excluding the types of premium pay identified in § 550.107) only to the extent that the payment does not cause the total of his or her basic pay and premium pay for the calendar year to exceed the greater of—

The maximum annual rate of basic pay payable for GS-15 (including any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable special rate of pay under 5 U.S.C. 5305 or similar provision of law) in effect on the last day of the calendar year; or

The annual rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule in effect on the last day of the calendar year.

The annual rates under paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section must be computed as follows:

Compute an hourly rate by dividing the published annual rate of basic pay by 2,087 hours and rounding the result to the nearest cent;

Compute a biweekly rate by multiplying the hourly rate from paragraph (d)(1) of this section by 80 hours;

Compute an annual rate of pay by multiplying the biweekly rate from paragraph (d)(2) of this section by the number of pay periods for which a salary payment is issued in the given calendar year under the agency's payroll cycle (i.e., either 26 or 27 pay periods).

An agency may defer payment of some or all of the additional premium pay owed an employee as a result of the annual limitation until the end of the calendar year.

Any payment made in the current calendar year that corrects an underpayment of premium pay in a previous calendar year must be treated as being made in the previous calendar year for the purpose of applying the annual cap under this section.

If an agency determines that the emergency or mission-critical work conditions are no longer in effect for an employee, it must resume application of the biweekly limitation. However, any premium pay the employee receives during the remainder of the calendar year is also subject to the annual limitation (as applied to any given pay period as described in paragraph (c) of this section).