S. 4271 — Support our Firefighters Act

This section establishes paid rest and recuperation leave under new 5 U.S.C. §6329e for covered employees of the Forest Service or Department of the Interior engaged in wildland firefighting (i.e., those qualifying as wildland firefighters or certified by the applicable Secretary—Agriculture or Interior—to perform wildland fire incident-related duties during deployment to a qualifying incident, as defined in 5 U.S.C. §5545c(a)). The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior shall jointly prescribe uniform policies for the leave, which may include (1) a maximum deployment period (from departure to return to duty station) followed by a minimum rest period; (2) 3 days of leave after a 14-day deployment excluding travel; or (3) 4 days after a 21-day deployment including travel. The leave must be used immediately after the incident during scheduled tour-of-duty hours, is paid like annual leave, cannot be carried over or paid out upon separation, and extends equivalent paid time off to intermittent-schedule employees.

This section provides transfer authority for up to $5 million of unobligated balances from the Forest Service wildland fire management account (Department of Agriculture, title VI, div. J, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, P.L. 117-58) pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(2)(B) to the Department of the Interior wildland fire management account (Department-wide programs, same title), notwithstanding restrictions in 16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(2), to continue uninterrupted federal wildland firefighter base salary increases (as described in 16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)), including related premium pay. (Thus, the transfer supports the $600 million allocated in FY2022-FY2026 for federal wildland firefighter salaries and expenses ($120 million to Interior; $480 million to Agriculture).)

This section permanently extends the waiver of premium pay caps under 5 U.S.C. 5547 for wildland firefighters by amending Section 1701 of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act to apply in any calendar year thereafter (from calendar years 2021 through 2024). (Thus, eligible wildland firefighters may receive overtime and other premium pay without regard to the per-pay-period or annual aggregate caps otherwise applicable to emergency work.)