460 Collection of Postal Debts From Bargaining Unit Employees by Salary Offset

461 General

461.1 Scope

These regulations apply to the collection, by salary offset, of any debt owed the Postal Service by a current employee who is included in a collective bargaining unit. If the circumstances specified in 462.32 apply to such employees, 452.3 may also apply; consequently, 451.2, 451.4, and 451.6 may apply as well. See 470 and 480 for procedures governing the collection of a debt from a former employee by administrative offset pursuant to the authority of section 10 of the Debt Collection Act, 31 U.S.C. 3716.

461.2 Issues Not Covered in the Subchapter

This subchapter does not cover the following issues:

  1. Other debt collection procedures — procedures governing the collection of debts from former employees by administrative offset pursuant to the authority of section 10 of the Debt Collection Act, 31 U.S.C. 3716 (see 470 and 480).
  2. Debts due other federal agencies — regulations governing the collection by involuntary salary offset of debts Postal Service employees owe to federal agencies other than the Postal Service.

461.3 Definitions

The following definitions apply to the material in this subchapter:

  1. Administrative salary offset — the collection of a debt owed to the Postal Service or other government agency through deductions from the disposable pay of a Postal Service employee under the authority of section 5 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, 5 U.S.C. 5514(a).
  2. Court judgment salary offset — the collection of a debt owed to the Postal Service or other government agency through deductions from the current pay of a Postal Service employee under the authority of section 124 of Public Law 97-276.
  3. Current pay or disposable pay — that part of an employee’s salary that remains after all required deductions (normal retirement contributions, FICA and Medicare insurance taxes, federal income tax, state and local income taxes, and employee-paid federal health insurance premiums) are made.
  4. Debt — any outstanding amount owed to the Postal Service by an employee.
  5. Employee — a current employee of the Postal Service.
  6. Pay — basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, or any other authorized pay, including cost-of-living adjustment or territorial cost-of-living allowance, an employee receives.
  7. Postmaster or installation head — the top management official at a Post Office or installation or the official who has supervisory responsibility for a debtor employed at Headquarters or in area offices. When the debtor is a postmaster or installation head, the term refers to the official to whom the postmaster or installation head reports.
  8. Waiver — the Postal Service’s cancellation, remission, or forgiveness of a debt, the recovery of which these regulations cover.