§ 708.3 Definitions.

For the purposes of the regulations in this part the following definitions apply:

(a)

Agency

means:

(1) An Executive agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105, including the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Rate Commission;

(2) A military department as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102;

(3) An agency or court in the judicial branch, including a court as defined in 28 U.S.C. 610, the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Judicial panel on Multidistrict Litigation;

(4) An agency of the legislative branch, including the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives; and

(5) Other independent establishments that are entities of the Federal Government.

(b)

Creditor agency

means the agency to which the debt is owed.

(c)

Debt

means an amount owed to the United States from sources, which include loans insured or guaranteed by the United States and amounts due the United States from fees, leases, rents, royalties, services, sales of real or personal property, overpayments, penalties, damages, interest, fines and forfeitures (except those arising under the Uniform Code of Military Justice), and all other similar sources.

(d)

Deputy Staff Director

means the Deputy Staff Director of the Commission or in his or her absence, or in the event of a vacancy in the position or its elimination, the Director of Human Resources.

(e)

Disposable pay

means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, or in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay remaining from an employee's Federal pay after required deductions for social security, Federal, state or local income tax, health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, life insurance premiums, Federal employment taxes, and any other deductions that are required to be withheld by law.

(f)

Employee

means a current employee of an agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces (Reserves).

pay after required deductions for social security, Federal, state or local income tax, health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, life insurance premiums, Federal employment taxes, and any other deductions that are required to be withheld by law.

(f)

Employee

means a current employee of an agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces (Reserves).

(g)

Former employee

means an employee who is no longer employed with the Commission but is currently employed with another Federal agency.

(h)

FCCS

means the Federal Claims Collection Standards jointly published by the Department of Justice and the General Accounting Office at 4 CFR chapter I.

(i)

Hearing official

means an individual responsible for conducting any hearing with respect to the existence or amount of a debt claimed, and who renders a decision on the basis of such hearing. A hearing official may not be under the supervision or control of the Deputy Staff Director of the Commission.

(j)

Paying agency

means the agency employing the individual who owes the debt and is responsible for authorizing the payment of his or her current pay.

(k)

Pay interval

will normally be the biweekly pay period but may be some regularly recurring period of time in which pay is received.

(l)

Retainer pay

means the pay above the maximum rate of an employee's grade that he or she is allowed to keep in special situations rather than having the employee's rate of basic pay reduced.

(m)

Salary offset

means an administrative offset to collect a debt under 5 U.S.C. 5514 by deduction(s) at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee without his or her consent.

(n)

Waiver

means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness, or non-recovery of a debt allegedly owed by an employee to an agency as permitted or required by 5 U.S.C. 5584, 10 U.S.C. 2774, or 5 U.S.C. 8346(b), or any other law.