Your annual pay as a federal employee is your annual rate of basic pay as fixed by law or regulation.

The following are included in annual pay:

• Interim geographic adjustments and locality-based comparability payments as provided by Pub. L. 101-509
• Premium pay for standby duty under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1)
• Premium pay for overtime inspectional service forcustoms officers as provided by Pub. L. 103-66
• For a law enforcement officer as defined under 5 U.S.C. 8331(20) and 5 CFR 831.902 and 842.802, premium pay for administratively uncontrollable overtime under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(2)
  Night differential pay for wage employees
• Environmental differential pay for employees exposed to danger or physical hardship
  Tropical differential pay for citizen employees in Panama
• Special pay adjustments for law enforcement officers
• Availability pay for criminal investigators under 5 U.S.C. 5545a
• Bonuses for physicians and dentists of the Department of Veterans Affairs under Pub. L.96-330
  Straight-time pay for regular overtime hours for firefighters, as provided in 5 U.S.C. 5545b and 5 CFR part 550, subpart M

The following are not included in annual pay:

• Foreign post differential for wage employees. Exception:those wage employees in Guam who were recruited from outside Guam and are paid a recruitment and retention incentive
• Night differential pay and foreign or nonforeign post differential pay of General Schedule employees
• Bonuses, allowances, overtime, holiday, and military pay not listed above as included
• Premium pay authorized certain air traffic controllers under Pub. L. 97-276
• Lump-sum payments for accrued leave
• Supervisory differentials
• Retention allowances
• Physicians' comparability allowances.

Hourly, Daily, and Similar Rates

To convert a pay rate of other than annual salary to an annual rate, multiply the pay rate by the number of the pay intervals worked in a 52-week work year.

Example:  Lashawn is paid $6.89 an hour and works 2,087 hours per year. Her annual pay is $14,379.

If part of your basic 40-hour week is paid at an overtime rate, your basic pay is determined at your base rate for 40 hours. The overtime rate is not countedtoward your basic pay for life insurance purposes.

Example:  Michael is paid $7.50 an hour, works 2,087 hours per year, and is assigned a workweek of four 10-hour days. He is paid $11.25 per hour for two hours of each 10-hour day. Since his overtime hours are part of the 40-hour week, they are counted at the base rate, not the overtime rate. His annual pay is $15,653 ($7.50 x 2,087).

Part-time Rates

If you are a part-time employee, your annual pay is your basic pay applied to your tour of duty in a 52-week work year.

Example:  Pat's pay is $31,892, and she works 24 hours per week. Her annual pay for insurance purposes is $19,135.($31,892 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 40 hours x 24 hours x 52 weeks)

Piecework Rates

If you are an employee on piecework rates, your annual pay is your total basic earnings for the previous calendar year, not counting premium pay for overtime or holidays.

Whenever the piecework rate changes, your annual pay is adjusted by applying the percentage of increase or decrease in rate.

If you had leave without pay during the year, your annual pay is determined by dividing the year's earnings (or adjusted earnings) by the number of days for which you were paid (days worked plus leave with pay); this gives the average daily rate. This average daily rate is multiplied by 260.

Example:  Alan's 1998 earnings were $19,486 and he was paid for 190 days. His average daily rate is $102.56 ($19,486 ÷ 190). His 1999 annual pay is $26,665 ($102.56 x 260).

If you are a new employee, your first year's annual pay for life insurance purposes is the average earned or adjusted annual basic pay during the previous calendar year for piecework employees doing similar work in your group, subject to any further adjustment of the average during the first year.

Multiple Rates - Regular Schedule

If you are regularly scheduled to work at different pay rates (such as day and night rates), your annual pay is the weighted average of the rates at which you are paid, projected to an annual basis. A regular schedule can exist even if your schedule varies within a year or even within a pay period.

Example:  Antonio is paid $6.89 per hour on a day shift and $8.07 per hour on a night shift and is regularly scheduled to work 8 months on day shift and 4 months on night shift.  Multiply $6.89 by 1,391 hours (2,087 hours ÷ 12 months x 8 months) and $8.07 by 696 hours (2,087 hours ÷ 12 months x 4 months). His annual pay is $15,201.

Multiple Rates - No Regular Schedule

If you work at different pay rates, but not on a regular schedule, your annual pay is the annual rate you were receiving at the end of the pay period. In the event of your death or dismemberment, it is the annual rate you were receiving at the time of your death or accident.

The employing office will determine the amount of insurance and withholdings for multiple rate employees with no regular schedule at the end of each pay period.

Example:  John does not work a regular schedule. During the latest biweekly pay period, he worked fifty hours on the day shift at $6.89 per hour and thirty hours on the night shift at $8.07 per hour. His annual pay at the end of this pay period is $15,252 ([$6.89 x 50 hours x 26 pay periods] + [$8.07 x 30 hours x 26 pay periods]).

Part-time Flexible Schedule

If you hold more than one appointment, of which at least one is a part-time flexible schedule appointment in the Postal field service, your Basic and Option B insurance amounts are based on the higher of your pay rates.

Intermittent Employment Rates

If you are a non-Postal intermittent employee (a non-full time employee with no prearranged regularly scheduled tour of duty), your annual pay is the annual rate you received at the end of the pay period. In the event of your death or dismemberment, it is the annual rate you were receiving at the time of your death or accident.

The employing office must determine the amount of insurance and withholdings for non-Postal intermittent employees at the end of each pay period.

Note: If you are an intermittent employee, you are excluded from FEGLI coverage by regulation, except when your intermittent employment follows, with a break in service of no more than three days, a position in which you were insured and to which you are expected to return.

Example:  Ned is an intermittent employee and is paid $9.14 per hour. His annual rate of pay fixed by law is therefore $19,075 ($9.14 x 2,087 hours). If Ned works only 2 days (16 hours) during a particular biweekly pay period, his annual rate of pay for insurance purposes for that pay period is $3,815 (however, he would be covered for the minimum $10,000 of Basic insurance).

Certifying the Amount of Insurance When There Is No Regularly Scheduled Tour of Duty

When you don't have a regularly scheduled tour of duty, upon your death, your employing office will base its certification of the amount of insurance upon the number of hours you worked in the last full pay period that you worked.

Example:  Emily, an intermittent employee earning $12.40 per hour, dies. During the last full pay period before her death, she worked 64 hours.   The amount of Basic insurance the employing office would certify is $23,000 (64 hours x $12.40 x 26 pay periods = $20,634, rounded to the next $1,000 = $21,000, plus $2,000 = $23,000).