Pay and Benefits for Noncareer Appointees Who Resign on Inauguration Day

CPM 2025-02 January 7, 2025 Memorandum for Human Resources Directors From: Veronica E. Hinton Associate Director Workforce Policy and Innovation Subject: Pay and Benefits for Noncareer Appointees Who Resign on Inauguration Day This memorandum is a special reminder to agencies of the policies regarding pay, work scheduling, leave, and certain benefits under title 5, United States Code, that will apply to noncareer appointees (for example, Executive Schedule, noncareer Senior Executive Service, Schedule C) who resign effective at noon, eastern standard time (EST), on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025. Pay Affected employees are entitled to compensation on January 20, 2025 (including holiday pay or, as applicable, holiday premium pay, as explained below) only for periods of time during which their Federal appointments are in effect. Each agency is responsible for determining the number of hours of pay for each noncareer appointee based on the employee’s work schedule for that day, prior to the termination of their appointment at noon (EST). Leave Please note that employees covered by the title 5 leave system (for example, General Schedule employees with a Schedule C appointment and noncareer members of the Senior Executive Service) who resign on January 20 will not accrue annual and sick leave for the January 12–25, 2025, biweekly pay period, since they will not have completed the full biweekly pay period. Certain Presidential appointees are not covered by the leave system and do not have a scheduled tour of duty. For such appointees who are located in the Eastern Time Zone, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) believes it is appropriate to pay these individuals a half day’s pay (that is, 4 hours) because the 12 hours between midnight

and noon (EST) on January 20 represent half a day. Normally, leave-exempt Presidential appointees receive pay for 8 hours a day. Retirement and Health Insurance An employee who resigns receives a full day of retirement credit for any partial day of employment. The employee’s Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) coverage continues until the end of the pay period in which the resignation occurred. The employee is then entitled to a 31-day extension of FEHB coverage at no charge. Enrollment in Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC) is an option to continue health coverage for up to 18 months from the date of separation from Federal employment. A TCC enrollee must pay the full premium plus a 2 percent administrative charge. If while an employee, they were enrolled in FEDVIP, FSAFEDS, FEGLI or FLTCIP, they are encouraged to contact their agency human resources office to address their status of enrollment. Holiday Pay By law, Federal employees in the Washington, DC, area are normally entitled to a holiday on Inauguration Day. The Inauguration Day holiday falls on Monday, January 20, 2025, which is also the legal public holiday for the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK holiday). (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(a) and (c).) Thus, on January 20, 2025, the Inauguration Day holiday is observed concurrently with the MLK holiday. For any work schedule that includes Monday as a regularly scheduled workday, there are no “in-lieu-of” holidays in connection with the January 20, 2025, holidays. Employees whose work schedule includes Monday will generally be excused from work on Monday, January 20th. Those that cannot be excused from work will generally receive holiday premium pay for “holiday work hours,” which are defined as basic/nonovertime tour of duty hours on a holiday. Employees who receive annual premium pay for standby duty under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) and firefighters who are covered by the special pay provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5545b are not entitled to paid holiday time off or holiday premium pay. Full-time employees for whom Monday, January 20th, is not a regular workday within their established tour of duty are generally entitled to an “in-lieu-of” holiday, as provided in the “Federal Holidays – ‘In Lieu Of’ Determination” fact sheet. For noncareer appointees with established work schedules that include Monday, January 20, 2025, the normal rules governing holiday time off and holiday premium

pay will apply except that, if their appointment ends at noon on that day, they will only be credited for hours that occur before noon. A General Schedule employee with a Schedule C appointment or a noncareer member of the Senior Executive Service for whom Monday, January 20, 2025, is a regular workday is entitled to a holiday on that day. The employee is entitled to paid holiday time off only for the hours they would have been scheduled to work (but for the holiday) until noon (EST) on January 20. If the General Schedule employee works during those hours, the employee would be entitled to holiday premium pay in addition to their regular pay rate. (Members of the Senior Executive Service are not eligible for any type of premium pay.) Additional Information For additional information, agency headquarters-level human resources offices may contact OPM at paypolicy@opm.gov. Component-level human resources offices must contact their agency headquarters for assistance. Employees must contact their agency human resources offices for further information on this memorandum. cc: Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs) and Deputy CHCOs