5 Cfr 537

§ 536.405

5 CFR Ch. I (1–1–12 Edition)

§ 536.405 Availability of information.
(a) The Office, upon a request which
identifies the individual from whose
file the information is sought, shall
disclose the following information
from an appeal file to a member of the
public, except when the disclosure
would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy:
(1) Confirmation of the name of the
individual from whose file the information is sought and the names of the
other parties concerned;
(2) The status of the appeal;
(3) The results of the appeal (i.e.,
proper title, pay plan, series, and
grade);
(4) The classification requested (i.e.,
title, pay plan, series, and grade); and
(5) With the consent of the parties
concerned, other reasonably identified
information from the file.
(b) The Office will disclose to the parties concerned, the information contained in an appeal file in proceedings
under this part, except when the disclosure would violate the proscription
against the disclosure of medical information in § 297.205 of this chapter. For
the purposes of this section, ‘‘the parties concerned’’ means the Government
employee or former Government employee involved in the proceedings, his
or her representative designated in
writing, and the representative of the
agency or the Office involved in the
proceeding.
[50 FR 3313, Jan. 24, 1985, as amended at 54
FR 18879, May 3, 1989. Redesignated and
amended at 70 FR 31310, May 31, 2005]

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PART 537—REPAYMENT OF
STUDENT LOANS
Sec.
537.101 Purpose.
537.102 Definitions.
537.103 Agency student loan repayment
plans.
537.104 Employee eligibility.
537.105 Criteria for payment.
537.106 Conditions and procedures for providing student loan repayment benefits.
537.107 Service agreements.
537.108 Loss of eligibility for student loan
repayment benefits.
537.109 Employee reimbursements to the
Government.
537.110 Records and reports.
AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 5379(g).

SOURCE: 73 FR 64865, Oct. 31, 2008, unless
otherwise noted.

§ 537.101 Purpose.
This part implements 5 U.S.C. 5379,
which authorizes agencies to establish
a student loan repayment program for
the purpose of recruiting or retaining
highly qualified personnel. Under such
a program, an agency may agree to
repay (by direct payment to the loan
holder on behalf of the employee) all or
part of any outstanding qualifying student loan or loans previously taken out
by a job candidate to whom an offer of
employment has been made, or by a
current employee of the agency.
§ 537.102 Definitions.
The definitions in this section apply
only to part 537. In this part:
Agency has the meaning given that
term in subparagraphs (A) through (E)
of 5 U.S.C. 4101(1).
Authorized agency official means the
head of an Executive agency or an official who is authorized to act for the
head of the agency in the matter concerned.
Employee means an employee of an
agency who satisfies the definition of
the term in 5 U.S.C. 2105.
Loan payment means the net payment
made by an agency to the holder of a
student loan (after deducting any tax
withholdings that may be made from
the gross student loan repayment benefit credited to the employee).
Service agreement means a written
agreement between an agency and an
employee (or job candidate) under
which the employee (or job candidate)
agrees to a specified period of service
in exchange for student loan repayment benefits, subject to the conditions set forth under this part.
Student loan means—
(1) A loan made, insured, or guaranteed under parts B, D or E of title IV of
the Higher Education Act of 1965; or
(2) A health education assistance
loan made or insured under part A of
title VII of the Public Health Service
Act or under part E of title VIII of that
Act.
Student loan repayment benefit means
the benefit provided to an employee
under this part in which an agency repays (by a direct payment on behalf of

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Office of Personnel Management

§ 537.104

the employee) a qualifying student
loan as described in § 537.106(b) previously taken out by such employee.
The dollar value of this benefit is the
gross amount credited to the employee
at the time of a loan payment to the
holder of the student loan, before deducting any employee tax withholdings
from that gross amount as described in
§ 537.106(a)(6)(iii). A student loan repayment benefit is not considered basic
pay for any purpose.
Time-limited appointment means a nonpermanent appointment including—
(1) A temporary appointment under 5
CFR part 316, subpart D, or similar authority;
(2) A term appointment under 5 CFR
part 316, subpart C, or similar authority;
(3) An overseas limited appointment
with a time limitation under 5 CFR
part 301, subpart B;
(4) A limited term or limited emergency appointment in the Senior Executive Service, as defined in 5 U.S.C.
3132(a), or an equivalent appointment
made for similar purposes;
(5) A Veterans Recruitment Appointment under 5 CFR part 307;
(6) A Presidential Management Fellow
appointment
under
5
CFR
213.3102(ii) and 5 CFR 213.3102(jj);
(7) A Federal Career Intern appointment under 5 CFR 213.3202(o); and
(8) An appointment under the fellowship and similar programs authority at
5 CFR 213.3102(r).

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§ 537.103 Agency student loan repayment plans.
Before providing student loan repayment benefits under this part, an agency must establish a student loan repayment plan. This plan must include the
following elements:
(a) The designation of officials with
authority to review and approve offering student loan repayment benefits
(which may parallel the approval delegations used for other recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives);
(b) The situations in which the student loan repayment authority may be
used;
(c) The criteria to meet or consider
in authorizing student loan repayment
benefits, including criteria for deter-

mining the size and timing of the loan
payment(s);
(d) A system for selecting employees
(or job candidates) to receive student
loan repayment benefits that ensures
fair and equitable treatment;
(e) The requirements associated with
service agreements (including a basis
for determining the length of service to
be required if it is greater than the
statutory minimum);
(f) The procedures for making loan
payments;
(g) The provisions for recovering any
amount outstanding from an employee
who fails to satisfy a service agreement
and conditions for waiving an employee’s obligation to reimburse the agency
for payments made under this part; and
(h)
Documentation
and
recordkeeping requirements sufficient to
allow reconstruction of each action to
approve a student loan repayment benefit.
§ 537.104 Employee eligibility.
(a) Subject to the conditions in 5
U.S.C. 5379 and this part, an authorized
agency official may approve student
loan repayment benefits to recruit a
highly qualified job candidate or retain
a highly qualified employee who, during the service period established under
a service agreement (consistent with
§ 537.107), will be serving under—
(1) An appointment other than a
time-limited appointment; or
(2) A time-limited appointment if—
(i) The employee (or job candidate)
will have at least 3 years remaining
under the appointment after the beginning of the service period established
under a service agreement; or
(ii) The time-limited appointment
authority leads to conversion to another appointment of sufficient duration so that his or her employment
with the agency is projected to last for
at least 3 additional years after the beginning of the service period established under a service agreement.
(b) An employee occupying a position
that is excepted from the competitive
service because of its confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character is ineligible
for student loan repayment benefits.
(c) An employee becomes ineligible
for student loan repayment benefits

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§ 537.105
under the
§ 537.108.

5 CFR Ch. I (1–1–12 Edition)
conditions

described

in

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§ 537.105 Criteria for payment.
(a) General criteria. Before authorizing student loan repayment benefits
for an employee (or job candidate), an
agency must make a written determination that—
(1) The employee (or job candidate) is
highly qualified and otherwise eligible
(as described in § 537.104); and
(2)(i) In a case where the authorization is granted to recruit a job candidate to fill an agency position, the
agency otherwise would encounter difficulty in filling a position with a highly qualified individual; or
(ii) In a case where the authorization
is granted to retain a current employee
of the agency, the employee otherwise
is likely to leave the agency for employment outside the Federal service
and it is essential to retain the employee based on the employee’s high or
unique qualifications or a special need
of the agency.
(b) Retention considerations. In making a determination under paragraph
(a)(2)(ii) of this section, an agency
must consider the extent to which the
employee’s departure would affect the
agency’s ability to carry out an activity or perform a function that is
deemed essential to its mission.
(c) Current Federal employees. An
agency may not authorize student loan
repayment benefits to recruit an individual from outside the agency who is
currently employed in the Federal
service.
(d) Selecting employees. When selecting employees (or job candidates) to receive student loan repayment benefits,
agencies must ensure that benefits are
awarded without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national
origin, sex, marital status, age, or
handicapping condition.
§ 537.106 Conditions and procedures
for providing student loan repayment benefits.
(a) General conditions. (1) Student
loan repayment benefits may be provided at the discretion of the agency
and are subject to such terms, limitations, or conditions as may be mutually agreed to in writing by the agency

and the employee (or job candidate) as
part of a service agreement under
§ 537.107.
(2) The student loan to be repaid
must be a qualifying student loan as
set forth in paragraph (b) of this section.
(3) The agency must document in
writing each approval of student loan
repayment benefits. An authorized
agency official must review and approve each written determination. The
written determination must show the
employee (or job candidate) meets the
criteria specified in § 537.105.
(4) An authorized agency official
must approve student loan repayment
benefits in connection with a recruitment action before the job candidate
actually enters on duty in the position
for which he or she was recruited. The
agency and the job candidate may sign
the service agreement consistent with
§ 537.107 before the job candidate begins
serving in the position, but the agency
may not begin making loan payments
until the job candidate begins serving
in the position.
(5) Student loan repayment benefits
are in addition to basic pay and any
other form of compensation otherwise
payable to the employee involved.
(6) Appropriate tax withholdings
must be deducted or applied at the
time any payment is made. Since these
tax implications could create a financial hardship for the recipient of the
student loan repayment benefit, agencies may lessen the impact of tax
withholdings on an employee’s paycheck in one of the following ways:
(i) Make smaller payments at periodic intervals throughout the year,
rather than issue payments under this
part in one lump sum;
(ii) Allow the employee to write a
check to the agency to cover his or her
tax liability, rather than have the tax
liability withheld from the employee’s
paycheck;
(iii) Deduct the amount of taxes to be
withheld from the student loan repayment benefit before the balance is
issued as a loan payment to the holder
of the loan.
NOTE TO § 537.106(a)(6): Contact the Internal
Revenue Service for further details concerning these options, as well as the tax

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§ 537.107

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withholding implications of payments under
this part.

(b) Qualifying student loans. (1) The
agency may make loan payments only
for student loan debts that are outstanding at the time the agency and
the employee (or job candidate) enter
into a service agreement. Before authorizing loan payments, an agency
must verify with the holder of the loan
that the employee (or job candidate)
has an outstanding student loan that
qualifies for repayment under this
part. The agency must verify remaining balances to ensure that loans are
not overpaid.
(2) The agency may repay more than
one loan if the employee’s student loan
repayment benefit does not exceed the
limits set forth in paragraph (c) of this
section.
(3) These regulations do not impose a
limit on the age of a student loan for
qualification purposes. The agency
may, however, specify in its agency
plan that only student loans made
within a certain timeframe are eligible
for repayment.
(c) Benefit amount. (1) In determining
the amount of student loan repayment
benefits to approve, an agency must
consider the employee’s (or job candidate’s) value to the agency and how
far in advance the agency is permitted
to commit funds. If an agency decides
to make additional student loan repayment benefits contingent on budget
levels or other factors, it must address
these contingent benefits in the written service agreement as described in
§ 537.107(a).
(2) The amount of student loan repayment benefits provided by an agency is subject to both of the following
limits:
(i) $10,000 per employee per calendar
year; and
(ii) A total of $60,000 per employee.
(3) In applying the limits in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the agency
must count the full student loan repayment benefit (i.e., before deducting any
tax withholdings as described in paragraph (a)(6)(iii) of this section).
(d) Employee responsibility. Loan payments made by an agency under this
part do not exempt an employee from
his or her responsibility and/or liability for any loan(s) the individual has

taken out. The employee also is responsible for any income tax obligations resulting from the student loan
repayment benefit.
§ 537.107

Service agreements.

(a) Before an employing agency
makes any loan payments for an employee, the employee (or job candidate)
must sign a written service agreement
to complete a specified period of service with the agency and to reimburse
the agency for the student loan repayment benefit when required by § 537.109.
The service agreement also may specify any other employment conditions
the agency considers to be appropriate,
including the employee’s (or job candidate’s) position and the duties he or
she is expected to perform, his or her
work schedule, his or her level of performance, and the geographic location
of his or her position. (See §§ 537.108 and
537.109.) The service agreement may address the possibility that, during the
period the agreement is in effect, the
agency may modify the agreement to
provide student loan repayment benefits in addition to those fixed in the
agreement based on contingencies or
conditions specified in the agreement.
(b) The minimum period of service to
be established under a service agreement is 3 years, regardless of the
amount of student loan repayment benefits authorized. The agency and the
employee may mutually agree to modify an existing service agreement, subject to the limitations at § 537.106(c)(2),
to provide additional student loan repayment benefits for additional service
without the need for an entirely new
service agreement (which would require a new 3-year minimum service
period). Periods of leave without pay,
or other periods during which the employee is not in a pay status, do not
count toward completion of the required service period. Thus, the service
completion date must be extended by
the total amount of time spent in nonpay status. However, as provided by 5
CFR 353.107, absence because of uniformed service or compensable injury
is considered creditable toward the required service period upon reemployment.

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5 CFR Ch. I (1–1–12 Edition)

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(c) A service agreement made under
this part in no way constitutes a promise of, or right or entitlement to, appointment, continued employment, or
noncompetitive conversion to the competitive service. This condition should
be stated in the service agreement.
(d) The service period begins on the
date specified in the service agreement.
That beginning date may not be—
(1) Earlier than the date the service
agreement is signed; or
(2) Earlier than the date the individual begins serving in the position
for which he or she was recruited (when
student loan repayment benefits are
approved to recruit a job candidate to
fill an agency position).
(e) The service agreement must contain a provision addressing whether the
individual would be required to reimburse the paying agency for student
loan repayment benefits if he or she
voluntarily separates from the paying
agency to work for another agency before the end of the service period. (See
§ 537.109(b)(2).)
(f) The agency may include in a service agreement specific conditions (in
addition to those required by law) that
trigger the loss of eligibility for student loan repayment benefits and/or a
requirement that the employee reimburse the agency for student loan repayment benefits already received.
(See §§ 537.108(a)(3) and 537.109(a)(2).)
However, a service agreement may not
require reimbursement based on—
(1) An employee’s failure to maintain
performance at a particular level (unless the employee is separated based on
unacceptable performance); or
(2) An involuntary separation for reasons other than misconduct, unacceptable performance, or a negative suitability determination under 5 CFR part
731 (e.g., an involuntary separation resulting from a reduction in force or
medical reasons).
§ 537.108 Loss of eligibility for student
loan repayment benefits.
(a) An employee receiving student
loan repayment benefits from an agency is ineligible for continued benefits
from that agency if the employee—
(1) Separates from the agency;
(2) Does not maintain an acceptable
level of performance, as determined

under standards and procedures prescribed by the agency; or
(3) Violates a condition in the service
agreement, if the agreement specifically provides that eligibility is lost
when the condition is violated.
(b) For the purpose of applying paragraph (a)(2) of this section, an acceptable level of performance is one that is
equivalent to level 3 (‘‘Fully Successful’’ or equivalent) or higher, as described in 5 CFR 430.208(d). An employee loses eligibility for student loan
repayment benefits if his or her most
recent official performance evaluation
does not meet this requirement.
§ 537.109 Employee reimbursements to
the Government.
(a) An employee is indebted to the
Federal Government and must reimburse the paying agency for the
amount of any student loan repayment
benefits received under a service agreement if he or she—
(1) Fails to complete the period of
service required in the applicable service agreement (except as provided by
paragraph (b) of this section); or
(2) Violates any other condition that
specifically triggers a reimbursement
requirement under the agreement.
(b) An agency may not apply paragraph (a) of this section based on an
employee’s failure to complete the required period of service established
under a service agreement if—
(1) The employee is involuntarily
separated for reasons other than misconduct, unacceptable performance, or
a negative suitability determination
under 5 CFR part 731; or
(2) The employee leaves the paying
agency voluntarily to enter into the
service of any other agency, unless reimbursement to the agency is otherwise required in the service agreement,
as provided by § 537.107(e).
(c) If an agency and an employee mutually agree to modify an existing service agreement to provide additional
student loan repayment benefits for additional service (as provided by
§ 537.107(b)), the modified service agreement may stipulate that, if the employee completes the initial service period but fails to complete the additional service period, he or she is required to reimburse the paying agency

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only for the amount of any student
loan repayment benefits received during the additional service period.
(d) If an employee fails to reimburse
the paying agency for the amount owed
under paragraph (a) of this section, a
sum equal to the amount outstanding
is recoverable from the employee under
the agency’s regulations for collection
by offset from an indebted Government
employee under 5 U.S.C. 5514 and 5 CFR
part 550, subpart K, or through the appropriate provisions governing Federal
debt collection if the individual is no
longer a Federal employee.
(e) An authorized agency official may
waive, in whole or in part, a right of recovery of an employee’s debt if he or
she determines that recovery would be
against equity and good conscience or
against the public interest. (See 5
U.S.C. 5379(c)(3).)
(f) Any amount reimbursed by, or recovered from, an employee under this
section must be credited to the appropriation account from which the
amount involved was originally paid.
Any amount so credited must be
merged with other sums in such account and must be available for the
same purposes and time period, and
subject to the same limitations (if
any), as the sums with which merged.
(See 5 U.S.C. 5379(c)(4).)
§ 537.110 Records and reports.
(a) Each agency must keep a record
of each determination to provide student loan repayment benefits under
this part and make such records available for review upon request by OPM.
Such a record may be destroyed when 3
years have elapsed since the end of the
service period specified in the employee’s service agreement unless any dispute has arisen regarding the agreement. If the service agreement has not
been fulfilled, there are other disputes
regarding the agreement or the loan
payouts, or the agreement has become
the subject of litigation, the records
should be kept until the agency is notified by agency counsel that all pending
claims have been resolved, all litigation concluded, and any applicable periods for seeking further review has
elapsed and, in any event, for a minimum of 6 years from the date the facts
giving rise to the dispute occurred. If

debt collection is pursued against the
employee for repayments made by the
agency, the agency must keep the
records until the agency is notified by
agency counsel that the debt is fully
collected, compromised, or settled finally and that any applicable period
for seeking further review has elapsed.
(b) By March 31st of each year, each
agency must submit a written report
to OPM containing information about
student loan repayment benefits it provided to employees during the previous
calendar year. Each report must include the following information:
(1) The number of employees who received student loan repayment benefits;
(2) The job classifications of the employees who received student loan repayment benefits; and
(3) The cost to the Federal Government of providing student loan repayment benefits.

PART 550—PAY ADMINISTRATION
(GENERAL)
Subpart A—Premium Pay
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec.
550.101
550.102
550.103

Coverage and exemptions.
Entitlement.
Definitions.
MAXIMUM EARNINGS LIMITATIONS

550.105 Biweekly maximum earnings limitation.
550.106 Annual maximum earnings limitation.
550.107 Premium payments capped on a biweekly basis when an annual limitation
otherwise applies.
OVERTIME PAY
550.111
550.112
550.113
550.114

Authorization of overtime pay.
Computation of overtime work.
Computation of overtime pay.
Compensatory time off.
NIGHT PAY

550.121 Authorization of night pay differential.
550.122 Computation of night pay differential.
PAY FOR HOLIDAY WORK
550.131 Authorization of pay for holiday
work.
550.132 Relation to overtime, night, and
Sunday pay.

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