531.605—Determining an employee's official worksite.

(a) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the official worksite is the location of an employee's position of record where the employee regularly performs his or her duties.

(2) If the employee's work involves recurring travel or the employee's work location varies on a recurring basis, the official worksite is the location where the work activities of the employee's position of record are based, as determined by the employing agency, subject to the requirement that the official worksite must be in a locality pay area in which the employee regularly performs work.

(3) An agency must document an employee's official worksite on an employee's Notification of Personnel Action (Standard Form 50 or equivalent).

(b) For an employee who is relocated and authorized to receive relocation expenses under 5 U.S.C. chapter 57, subchapter II (or similar authority), the official worksite is the established worksite for the position in the area to which the employee has been relocated. For an employee authorized to receive relocation expenses under 5 U.S.C. 5737 in connection with an extended assignment resulting in a temporary change of station, the worksite associated with the extended assignment is the official worksite. (See 41 CFR 302-1.1.)

(c) For an employee whose assignment to a new worksite is followed within 3 workdays by a reduction in force resulting in the employee's separation before he or she is required to report for duty at the new location, the official worksite in effect immediately before the assignment remains the official worksite through the date of separation.

(d) For an employee covered by a telework agreement, the following rules apply:

(1) If the employee is scheduled to work at least twice each biweekly pay period on a regular and recurring basis at the regular worksite for the employee's position of record, the regular worksite (where the employee's work activities are based) is the employee's official worksite. However, in the case of such an employee whose work location varies on a recurring basis, the employee need not work at least twice each biweekly pay period at the regular official worksite (where the employee's work activities are based) as long as the employee is regularly performing work within the locality pay area for that worksite.

(2) An authorized agency official may make an exception to the twice-in-a-pay-period standard in paragraph (d)(1) of this section in appropriate situations of a temporary nature, such as the following:

(i) An employee is recovering from an injury or medical condition;

(ii) An employee is affected by an emergency situation, which temporarily prevents the employee from commuting to his or her regular official worksite;

(iii) An employee has an extended approved absence from work (e.g., paid leave);

(iv) An employee is in temporary duty travel status away from the official worksite; or

(v) An employee is temporarily detailed to work at a location other than a location covered by a telework agreement.

(3) If an employee covered by a telework agreement does not meet the requirements of paragraphs (d)(1) or (d)(2) of this section, the employee's official worksite is the location of the employee's telework site.

(4) An agency must determine a telework employee's official worksite on a case-by-case basis. A determination made under this paragraph (d) is within the sole and exclusive discretion of the authorized agency official, subject only to OPM review and oversight.

(e) In applying paragraph (d) of this section for the purpose of other location-based pay entitlements under other regulations that refer to this section, the reference to a locality pay area is deemed to be a reference to the applicable geographic area associated with the given pay entitlement. For example, for the purpose of special rates under 5 CFR part 530, subpart C, the reference to a locality pay area is deemed to be a reference to the geographic area covered by a special rate schedule.

Code of Federal Regulations

[73 FR 66154, Nov. 7, 2008]