Back Pay Fairness Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 222 To amend section 1341 of title 31, United States Code, to require payment of interest on back pay for employees affected by a lapse in appropriations. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 24, 2019 Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mrs. SHA- HEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations A BILL To amend section 1341 of title 31, United States Code, to require payment of interest on back pay for employees affected by a lapse in appropriations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Back Pay Fairness 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. INTEREST ON BACK PAY FOR EMPLOYEES AF- 6 FECTED BY A LAPSE IN APPROPRIATIONS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1341(c) of title 31, 8 United States Code, is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:04 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S222.IS S222 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 222 IS (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para- 1 graph (4); and 2 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(3)(A) If a payment under paragraph (2) to an em- 5 ployee furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appro- 6 priations or to an excepted employee is made after the reg- 7 ularly scheduled pay date for such payment in the absence 8 of a lapse in appropriations, the payment shall include an 9 interest payment prorated daily which shall accrue from 10 such regularly scheduled pay date. 11 ‘‘(B) An interest payment under subparagraph (A)— 12 ‘‘(i) shall be computed at the rate of interest es- 13 tablished by the Secretary of the Treasury under 14 section 3902 that is in effect on the first day of the 15 covered lapse in appropriations; and 16 ‘‘(ii) shall be in addition to any other remedy 17 available under any other law, rule, or regulation.’’. 18 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 19 section shall apply with respect to any covered lapse in 20 appropriations (as defined in section 1341(c) of title 31, 21 United States Code) that begins before, on, or after the 22 date of enactment of this Act. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:04 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S222.IS S222 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS