PTRC Skills Review

1. Spring 2014 Webinar Series Northern Rockies Incident Business Committee Welcome to session 5 of 6 PTRC Skills Review

2. In this session, we will review a variety timekeeping issues and posting strategies including: • Overhead Resource Check-in Data • Posting overhead time to I-Suite • Posting travel per USFS-AD reimbursement policy • Travel posting errors from last season • Processing Casual & EFF OF-288s • COP-GUAR-HP and EP • Overhead accrual options • Crew time posting NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

3. Finance personnel need to check the “common data” on the Resource Edit Mode screen. It’s our responsibility to assure that the correct account code is selected. It should correspond with the resource’s home agency. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

4. The check-in information will appear on the “Plans” tab, which we may or may not see. Finance folks need to complete the “Time-Individual” tab in I-Suite. We must select the appropriate Employment Type. “FED” requires no additional data entry. We use the I-Suite rate estimates for the resource cost. NRCG Business Committee “OTHER” allows us to enter a rate. We typically use “Other” for state employees, EFFs and cooperators. Follow agency direction for entering a rate or leaving it blank. PTRC Skills Review….

5. “AD” requires the most additional information. When we select “AD” the Payment Information section will appear. We must complete those fields. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

6. I-Suite will accommodate the new Employee Common Identifiers (ECI). For all federal agencies, use the ECI instead of SSN. It will print to the OF-288. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

7. Unlike the old SSNs, the new ECI will print onto the OF-288. NRCG Business Committee ECI numbers are generated by the agency Payment Center. (ASC for USFS, the Casual Payment Center in Boise for DOI agencies). Hiring units need to assure that the casual has his/her number when mobilized. PTRC Skills Review….

8. ASC provides the USFS-AD Employee Common Identifiers on the web… NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/ibp/

9. DOI Agencies can obtain ECIs by contacting the Casual Payment Center after the hiring paperwork has been submitted. • Casual Payment Center • National Interagency Fire Center • 3833 S. Development Ave, • Boise, ID 83705-5354 • 877-471-2262 NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Will need the employee’s full, legal name and SSN to obtain the ECI.

10. For home units managing casuals, my advice is this… • Obtain the ECI before the casual is dispatched, preferably before his/her Incident Qualification Card is issued. • Hand-write the ECI on the Incident Qualification Card. • Hand-write the ECI on the Single Resource Casual Hire Information Form. • For crews, add the ECIs to the manifest and/or the individual Incident Qualification Cards. • It is not PII, so it can be written without risk to the casual. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

11. If we discover errors with the agency and/or Unit ID we should refer them to Plans/RESL for correction. NRCG Business Committee AD Unit IDs are NEVER dispatch centers. Should always be an agency within a dispatch center. PTRC Skills Review…. How do we know?

12. We check the Single Resource Casual Hire Information Form, which all federal casuals should bring with them upon check-in. If either the “Office Name” or the “Unit ID” still shows a dispatch center, then we need to do a little more research. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

13. From this form, we also check the job title, AD Class and rate, and assure that the individual is qualified in the position (or serving as a trainee in the position). This form needs to be signed by the hiring official and the casual. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

14. Questions? Any questions on check-in data, or verifying AD set-up? PTRC Skills Review….

15. Once we have our casual checked-in and set up in Finance, we can begin to post time from the Crew Time Report. Note the travel time and the POV mileage in the remarks section. In our example, this AD is hired by the National Park Service. Do we input the mileage anywhere in the Time Module in I-Suite? PTRC Skills Review…. NO! That’s only for USFS-hired casuals.

16. With a completed and signed CTR, we can post the hours worked in the I-Suite Time Module: NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Note the AD Class and Rate columns. If they do not appear here, then we know the individual is not set up as an AD on the Time-Individual tab.

17. Posting Time for a FED is a little easier. We need not consider their pay scale, only hours worked. Classification is not required for a Fed, but it may be helpful to know if a Fed is GS or WG. We do post Travel time with the TVL special character. For the first CTR, it is helpful to have their Classification, especially if we don’t get check-in forms. PTRC Skills Review….

18. With a completed and signed CTR, we can post the hours worked in the I-Suite Time Module: NRCG Business Committee Another place to check the correct accounting code. PTRC Skills Review…. With FEDs, we have no columns regarding rate of pay. I-Suite will use an estimate based on the Kind Code.

19. If we discover an error – our FED should actually be an AD - we can change the Employment Type on the Time-Individual tab. We would only need to make minor adjustments to the time that’s already posted. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. I-Suite will add the Class and Rate columns, but the Class will be blank and the Rate will be zero. We need to manually enter the Class, then the Rate will auto-fill.

20. One more example: for a state employee. Note the Agency, Unit ID, and Account Code in the “shared data” area. Employment Type is Other on the Time tab NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

21. When we post time for a state employee with an Employment Type of “Other” with no rate attached, the result is this: NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Note the Rate column appears, but value is zero. This would change if we had entered a rate on the Time-Individual tab. With no rate, I-Suite will estimate Cost from the rate table.

22. Let’s review the OF-288, paying specific attention to those boxes that need to be manually completed: Box 2: ECI, may need to be hand-written if unknown. A “false” number (all 9s) would need to be entered in I-Suite as it’s a required field. Box 5: if applicable Boxes 7 & 9 Boxes 3 and 8 will print check marks if the boxes are checked on the I-Suite Time Tab for Initial Employment and Return Travel.

23. On the lower half of the OF-288… NRCG Business Committee We need to assure that the accounting code is correct, that any remarks are clear and complete (I-Suite will truncate excess characters) and the signatures are available in other-than-black ink. DOI agencies need to include all parts of the accounting structure, which will need to be manually added.

24. Questions? Any questions on CTRs, posting overhead time and OF288s? PTRC Skills Review….

25. Next step: For USFS-hired casuals, Finance folks need to post travel expenses according to the USFS Casual Hire Travel Reimbursement process. The process can be found on several websites including the Incident Business Practices site shown below: NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/ibp/

26. Use the step-by-step directions in this document to post the appropriate travel compensation. Use the M&IE Breakdown chart, then subtract individual meals (like dinner the first day if they arrive in camp for dinner, and breakfast the last day if they eat in camp before departing), as appropriate. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Use any of the examples to guide you on what should be added to I-Suite. Remember, typing space is limited, be concise but clear.

27. For example: Let’s say we have a USFS-hired casual serving as an Air Support Group Supervisor (ASGS). This casual was hired on the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest, and drove his POV 125 miles to the fire at Glacier Park. Mobilized on 1/2/14 and demobed on 1/10/14. Dinner was provided the first night in camp and breakfast was provided the last morning in camp. No commercial lodging was required. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

28. For Current mileage rates, use the GSA website…. Best way to find it… Google “GSA Mileage Rates” NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

29. Once it’s posted, we’ll get a Travel Expense record on the old Commissary Record form: NRCG Business Committee

30. And the total will carry over to the first page of the OF-288 in the Commissary box. NRCG Business Committee If a casual has additional travel expenses on the return trip, his home unit can create an amendment to pick up the additional expenses. We need to provide this service as best we can, and we need to review these OF-288s carefully – before transmittal to ASC. My advice: at least 2 people review each one. It’s hard to review (a.k.a proofread) your own work.

31. Let’s review two travel posting errors from last year: NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. It appears that this PTRC was trying to add meal expenses rather than subtract meals provided. The math didn’t work out as the travel days (first, second and last) were not handled correctly. The changes made during the audit increased the allowable travel reimbursement for this AD.

32. NRCG Business Committee In this case, the AD traveled on 8/17 and 8/18. First day is ¾ per diem, second day is full per diem. Checked in on 8/18 but no meals were provided. Traveled home on 8/24, but ate breakfast in camp and took a sack lunch for the road. Those meals need to be subtracted. M&IE from 8/19 through 8/23 was excluded. PTRC Skills Review….

33. Questions? Any questions on the USFS AD Travel Process? PTRC Skills Review….

34. When USFS-hired AD OF-288s are complete and ready to send to ASC for payment, we need to use the ASC “Approving Memo.” This is found on Page 10 of the current (2013) ASC B&F Incident Finance Branch, Payment Procedures document. Note the Unique Batch Number: Be sure to create unique numbers for each batch sent from each incident, and keep a log of the batches created so the next team can pick up where you left off. NRCG Business Committee

35. DOI agencies will do the same thing: create unique batch numbers when sending OF-288s to the Casual Payment Center in Boise. However, this is completed at the home unit, not at the incident. DOI casuals demob with their original OF-288s to be returned to their host agency with no travel reimbursement information attached. NRCG Business Committee

36. For Emergency Firefighters (EFF) hired through the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (MT-DNRC): NRCG Business Committee All original CTRs and signed OF-288s MUST be returned by the EFF to DNRC hiring office for payment. Only photocopies remain in the Incident Fire Package. Folks demob with their original paperwork. PTRC Skills Review….

37. This also applies to MT-DNRC agency employees who use agency-owned vehicles on federal fires – any agency. If a single-resource overhead EFF had a vehicle: NRCG Business Committee • Shift tickets are required. • An OF-286 is required. • All original paperwork will be given to the EFF upon demob. • Local VFD/RFD fire apparatus will be hired on a Cooperative Rate agreement. All original shift tickets and the corresponding OF-286 will be given to the operators upon their demob. PTRC Skills Review….

38. Questions? Any questions on submitting paperwork? PTRC Skills Review….

39. If an agency firefighter is injured while on the incident, we post “Guarantee” for the day of the injury, and COP (Continuation of Pay) for additional days, or partial days, until the firefighter can return to full duty. The injury would require complete documentation: CA-1 and CA-16, or APMC. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Injury and Illness

40. If that firefighter believes the illness is work-related, a CA-2 can be filed, but CA-2s are applications for reimbursement through OWCP. We do not post COP with CA-2 applications. We would post the time off for recuperation the same way: Guarantee or Day Off with an explanation in the Remarks Section. The employee would need to use sick leave for regular work days off, and, if the CA-2 is approved by OWCP, can apply for restoration of leave. These are not incident-time issues. These are payroll and H.R. issues. If an agency firefighter becomes sick, he may have the ability to utilize sick-leave within his agency policies. However, I-Suite does not capture sick leave, so we post those days as “Guarantee” or “Day Off” and explain in the remarks section of the OF-288. Using sick leave (for regularly-scheduled work days) is a payroll operation. If the employee is sick on a regularly scheduled day off, there is no compensation, no charge to sick leave. It would be a day off in payroll. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

41. In this example, our firefighter became ill on February 4 and stopped working at 10:00 AM. The firefighter remained ill and unable to work on Feb. 5 and 6. He returned to partial duty (non-hazardous) for two days, then returned to full, hazardous duty on February 9. It would be up to the firefighter to post hours to sick leave in the agency payroll system as appropriate. NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

42. This is how it appears on the OF-288: NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review….

43. Questions? Any questions on posting time during periods of illness or injury? PTRC Skills Review….

44. If a federal GS firefighter is exposed to particular hazards on the job, a premium pay is offered. Hazardous-Duty pay for wildland firefighting is 25% of base pay and is applied to all hours in pay status for that calendar day. Hazard Pay premium comes from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and is referenced in the Interagency Incident Business Management Handbook (IIBMH). Hazard Pay premium can only be applied to those hazards authorized in the CFR. We cannot make up new hazards and apply a premium pay. Reference 5-CFR-550.901 for GS; and 5-CFR-532.511 for WG NRCG Business Committee PTRC Skills Review…. Hazard Pay for GS Feds

45. Firefighters should indicate “H” for Hazard Pay in Section 6 Remarks, on the left of the CTR, and should include a reason for hazardous duty exposure in Section 11, Remarks, at the bottom of the CTR. “H=Hazard Pay” is not an adequate reason in the remarks section. We’re looking for the hazard: uncontrolled fireline, low level recon flight, etc. NRCG Business Committee Hazard Pay for GS Feds

46. Posting Hazard Pay for GS federal employees in I-Suite: NRCG Business Committee Hazard Pay for GS Feds Select “HP” from the drop down list under “Special”

47. The “HP” will appear on the OF-288 with each line of time that had the posting. Application of the hazardous duty premium is a payroll operation. It would need to be coded according to agency policy in the payroll system for each employee for each day. NRCG Business Committee Hazard Pay for GS Feds

48. Environmental Pay for WG Feds Federal Wage System employees (WG-WL-WS) have two levels of Environmental Pay Applied to all hours in pay status for the calendar day. This applies to Wildland Firefighting. Applied only to hours of actual exposure. This applies to low-level recon flights. The CFR, lists many reasons for Environmental Pay and Hazard Pay. Some of the other reasons may be used in All-Hazard Incidents. Premiums vary from 4% through 100%. NRCG Business Committee

49. NRCG Business Committee Here’s what low-level recon flights look like in the CFR:

50. Here’s what firefighting looks like in the CFR: NRCG Business Committee