R&R leave for wildland firefighters

Summary#

This bill adds a new paid “rest and recuperation” (R&R) leave for federal wildland firefighters who work for the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior. It lets the two agencies set joint rules on when R&R leave must be used, and it extends a temporary waiver of overtime caps so premium pay can continue beyond 2024. It also allows up to $5 million to be transferred between certain wildland fire accounts to keep a firefighter base salary increase in place.

• Main change: creates a new paid R&R leave for covered wildland firefighters after deployment to a qualifying incident.
• Deployment rules: the agency heads will set joint policies that can require 3 days of R&R after 14 days deployed (excluding travel) or 4 days after 21 days (including travel).
• How leave works: R&R must be used immediately after a qualifying incident, paid like annual leave, used during scheduled work hours, and cannot be cashed out later.
• Pay and budgets: permits a transfer of up to $5 million between specified wildland fire funding accounts to keep a base salary increase and related premium pay funded.
• Overtime caps: changes an existing temporary waiver so it applies to “any calendar year thereafter,” making the waiver ongoing rather than limited to 2021–2024.

What it means for you#

• Wildland firefighters (Forest Service and Interior):

  • If you qualify as a wildland firefighter or are certified to perform fire incident duties, you may get paid R&R leave after a deployment to a qualifying incident.
  • You could be required to take 3 days off after about 2 weeks of deployment, or 4 days off after about 3 weeks, depending on the joint agency policy.
  • That R&R leave must be taken immediately after the deployment and cannot be saved or paid out later.

• Employees with intermittent schedules (seasonal or on-call):

  • You will be excused from duty during the same R&R period as other covered employees and will receive a payment as if you were on R&R leave.

• Agency managers and pay offices (USDA Forest Service and Interior):

  • Must adopt uniform joint policies on deployment limits and R&R timing.
  • Must track and pay R&R like annual leave and handle related scheduling and payroll.

• Taxpayers / general public:

  • The bill likely increases federal personnel costs for firefighting, though no full cost estimate is included in the bill text.

Expenses#

Estimated public cost: No comprehensive cost estimate is included in the bill text.

• The bill allows up to $5,000,000 of unobligated Forest Service wildland fire funds to be transferred and merged into Interior wildland fire funds to continue a firefighter base salary increase and related premium pay.
• Paid R&R leave will create additional personnel payroll costs while firefighters are on leave.
• Extending the overtime-cap waiver beyond 2024 could allow continued premium pay that adds to personnel costs.
• Agencies will likely have administrative costs to write, apply, and track the new R&R policies and payroll changes.
• No publicly available information in the bill text provides a full fiscal note or total estimated annual cost.

Proponents' View#

• The bill appears intended to give wildland firefighters guaranteed paid time off after long or intense deployments. This could be seen as supporting firefighter recovery and well-being.
• Setting uniform policies jointly by the two agencies could make leave rules consistent for employees who work across Forest Service and Interior roles.
• Extending the waiver of overtime caps and allowing a small transfer of funds could be seen as preserving recent pay increases and premium pay mechanisms for firefighters.
• The new R&R leave is paid in the same way as annual leave, which makes its administration familiar to payroll offices.

Opponents' View#

• One concern is that the bill does not include a full fiscal estimate. It is unclear how much R&R leave plus extended premium pay will cost in total.
• The obligation to provide R&R may require more staffing or more overtime for other workers to cover shifts, raising costs or operational strain during peak fire seasons.
• The bill leaves key details to the Secretaries to set by policy. It is unclear how strictly deployment limits, required leave lengths, and interactions with other leave rules will be defined.
• Allowing a transfer of up to $5 million moves existing funds between accounts; this may reduce funds available for other planned uses in the original account.
• Making the overtime-cap waiver effectively permanent may increase long-term premium pay costs without a sunset or regular review.