New hardship duty pay takes effect January 1
The Department of Defense (DoD) has approved implementation of the new hardship duty pay for location (HDP-L) allowance, effective January 1. HDP-L replaces the $8-$22.50/month Certain Places Pay (CPP) allowance in most areas.
Airmen stationed in designated HDP-L areas will begin receiving the new monthly pay in their January pay checks and will no longer receive CPP, said Air Force personnel officials.
Unlike CPP, which only included enlisted members and varied rates based on grade, the new HDP-L includes all service members, active and reserve, officer and enlisted, who serve more than 30 consecutive days in designated locations. Rates vary from $50, $100, or $150, based on location, rather than grade.
Federal civilian personnel also benefit
Federal civilian employees will receive a hardship differential of 5-10 percent, 15 percent, or 20-25 percent of basic pay, respectively. HDP-L is a taxable pay, officials said. An exception applies to airmen performing duty in a designated combat-zone tax-exclusion area.
Members are eligible for HDP-L if assigned to quality of life hardship locations outside the continental United States. These are locations where living conditions are substantially below the standard most members in the states would generally experience, officials said.
"HDP-L is intended to recognize the extraordinarily arduous living conditions, excessive physical hardship, and/or unhealthful conditions that exist in a location of assignment," said Capt. Tad Vannaman, chief of special and incentive pays at the Pentagon.
"The list of qualifying locations is similar to the CPP list, however there are some locations that qualified for CPP that do not qualify for HDP-L," Vannaman said. In these cases, people who were receiving CPP will be "grandfathered."
Those who are grandfathered will continue receiving CPP until they are reassigned, officials said. Grandfathered locations include Alaska, Singapore, Ghedi, Italy, and Moron, Spain, along with all locations currently qualified for hostile fire/imminent danger pay.
Additionally, any enlisted member permanently assigned to these grandfathered locations before January 1, 2002, will receive the old CPP rate until they are reassigned. CPP will end for airmen arriving in these locations after January 1, 2002.
Rates kick in from date of arrival
Members arriving at an HDP-L location for permanent reassignment are eligible for HDP-L from the day they arrive at the new station, officials said. People performing temporary duty in a designated HDP-L location will not be eligible during the first 30 consecutive days; however, on the 31st day, they will begin receiving HDP-L, retroactive to the first day they reported for the temporary duty.
HDP-L will end for service members who leave the designated location for a temporary period of more than 30 consecutive days, officials said. However, this rule does not apply to accompanied members if their dependents stay in the designated HDP-L area while the member is gone, officials said. HDP-L will restart when the person is again assigned and performing duty in that or another designated location.
The entitlement will stop the day the member departs the station upon permanent reassignment. If rates for designated HDP-L locations are terminated or reduced due to DOD biennial reviews, the termination or reduction will take effect three months after approval is given.
Allowances may be made for short-notice operations, where service members will enter locations with little or no established U.S. or allied military presence and arduous circumstance exist. Emergency designations will be in force for no more than 180 days.
The new HDP-L rates and locations will be listed on the Air Force Personnel Center homepage at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/, and the Air Force Accounting and Finance Office homepage at www.saffm.hq.af.mil/affsc/. People may also contact their base finance office for more information.
Edited by Bob Arguero, Managing Editor, GovCon