[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR179.212]

[Page 35-36]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 179_CLAIMS COLLECTION STANDARDS--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart B_Salary Offset
 
Sec. 179.212  Procedures for salary offset.

    (a) The Director or his or her designee shall coordinate salary 
deductions under this subpart.
    (b) OPM payroll office shall determine the amount of an employee's 
disposable pay and implement the salary offset.
    (c) Deductions shall begin effective the pay period following 
receipt by OPM's payroll office of proper certification of the debt 
(Sec. 179.208).
    (d) Types of collection--(1) Lump-sum payment. A debt will be 
collected in a lump sum if possible. If an employee is financially 
unable to pay in one lump sum or the amount of the debt exceeds 15 
percent of disposable pay for an officially established pay interval, 
collection must be made in installments.
    (2) Installment deductions. Installment deductions will be made over 
a period not greater than the anticipated period of employment and, 
except in rare circumstances, not to exceed 3 years. The size and 
frequency of installment deductions will bear a reasonable relation to 
the size of the debt and the employee's ability to pay. The amount 
deducted for any period will not exceed 15 percent of the disposable pay 
from which the deduction is made unless the employee has agreed in 
writing to the deduction of a greater amount.
    (3) Lump-sum deductions from final check. A lump-sum deduction 
exceeding the 15 percent disposable pay limitation may be made from any 
final salary payment pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3716 in order to liquidate 
the debt, whether the employee is being separated voluntarily or 
involuntarily.
    (4) Lump-sum deductions from other sources. When an employee subject 
to salary offset is separated from OPM and the balance of the debt 
cannot be liquidated by offset of the final salary check, the Office, 
pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3716, the FCCS and OPM's implementing regulations, 
may offset the balance of the debt against any financial payment due the 
employee from the U.S. Government.
    (e) Multiple debts. In instances where two or more creditor agencies 
are seeking salary offset, or where two or more debts are owed to a 
single creditor agency, OPM payroll office may, at its discretion, 
determine whether one or more debts should be offset simultaneously 
within the 15 percent limitation.
    (f) Precedence of debts owed to OPM. For OPM employees, debts owed 
to the Office generally take precedence over debts owed to other 
agencies. In the event that a debt to the Office is certified while an 
employee is subject to a salary offset to repay another agency, the OPM 
payroll office may decide whether to have that debt repaid in full 
before collecting its claim or whether changes should be made in the 
salary deduction being sent to the other agency. If debts owed the 
Office can be collected in one pay period, the payroll office may 
suspend the salary offset to the other agency for that pay period in 
order to liquidate the office debt.
    (g) When an employee owes two or more debts, the best interests of 
the Government shall be the primary consideration in determining the 
order of debt collection. The OPM payroll office, in making this 
determination,

[[Page 36]]

will be guided primarily by the statute of limitations that affects the 
collection of the debt(s).