For 9/11, a $150 pittance

Thousands of federal employees who were at the Pentagon or the World Trade Center complex on Sept. 11 will receive a one-time payment of $150 from the government. Family members of federal employees who died at the sites will also receive the payment.

The payment is known as hostile fire pay, a form of special compensation that until recently was available only to military personnel.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Department began processing hostile fire payments for military personnel who were at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Recognizing the inequity of making the payments to military personnel but not to civilian personnel, Pentagon officials asked Congress to make hostile fire pay available to civilians as well.

Congress included a provision in the 2002 Defense Authorization bill (Section 1111 of Public Law 107-107) that authorized federal agencies to make hostile fire payments to civilian workers when they come under attack, are in imminent danger of attack or are killed in an attack.

Hostile fire pay is paid on a monthly basis, so employees who were at the Pentagon or World Trade Center complex on Sept. 11 would receive the $150 payment for the month of September only. Employees who were hospitalized because of the attacks would also receive $150 payments for each additional month during which they spent time in the hospital, up to 3 months. So an employee injured in the Sept. 11 attack who spent parts of October and November in the hospital would receive $450 in hostile fire pay.

Agencies are not obligated to grant hostile fire pay, but several agencies that had employees at the Sept. 11 sites have decided to make the payments.

On March 27, Charles Abell, assistant secretary of Defense for force management policy, issued a memorandum authorizing hostile fire payments for civilians who were at the Pentagon or the World Trade Center complex when the planes hit the buildings. Civilian employees who were emergency responders to the attacks will also receive the payments, according to civilian personnel policy officials at Defense. Defense agencies are processing the payments now, the officials said.

The department has already sent the hostile fire payments to the surviving family members of the 56 Defense employees who were killed in the attacks.

About 2,800 federal employees worked at the World Trade Center complex, primarily in Buildings 6 and 7. About a dozen IRS employees were in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, conducting audits.

The Treasury Department has decided to make the hostile fire payments to employees who were at the complex on Sept. 11, spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw said. Employees should check with their supervisors about getting the payments, she said. In addition to the IRS, the Customs Service and Secret Service had employees at the complex.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also decided to make the hostile fire payments, a spokesman said.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not received any requests from employees for the payments, a spokesman said. Officials at the Labor Department and Export-Import Bank could not be reached for comment.

Federal agencies will be able to make hostile fire payments to employees who come under attack in the future.

Higher Premium Pay Cap

Under new Office of Personnel Management regulations that take effect in the next few weeks, many federal employees will be able to earn more premium pay, such as overtime, night, availability, Sunday and holiday pay.

Starting April 28 for some employees and May 5 for others (depending on pay cycles), the biweekly cap on regular-plus-premium pay will be $4,661.60, unless the local pay rate at the top of the General Schedule, the government's pay scale, is higher. In high-paying locations, the higher GS-15, Step 10 pay rate will serve as the biweekly cap. For example, in Los Angeles the cap will remain at $4,776, in Houston $4,880.80, in New York $4,742.40. In those high-paying locations, law enforcement officers will be able to get more money, since they are capped at $4,661.60 until April 28 or May 5.

The new regulations also allow agency chiefs to waive the biweekly caps when they think that extra work hours are critical. Employees could then earn above the biweekly caps as long as they don't breach annual caps at the end of the year. The annual cap will be $121,600 unless the local GS-15, Step 10 rate is higher. In Los Angeles, the annual cap will be $124,588, in Houston $127,366 and in New York $123,707.

OPM announced the new regulations in the April 19 Federal Register.