What Is Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP)?

Law enforcement availability pay, known as LEAP, is a statutory 25 percent premium added to a federal criminal investigator’s basic pay in exchange for remaining available for substantial unscheduled work beyond the standard 40-hour week.¹ The premium exists because criminal investigations rarely follow a predictable schedule, and the 25 percent covers most of that irregular time in a single flat rate rather than through case-by-case overtime. To keep receiving it, investigators must average at least two extra hours of unscheduled duty per regular workday and certify that fact annually with a supervisor.

Who Is Eligible

LEAP is limited to employees who meet the definition of “criminal investigator” in 5 U.S.C. § 5545a. The statute requires that the employee be a law enforcement officer trained in investigative techniques, evidence law, criminal procedure, and constitutional rights, and who has authority to conduct criminal investigations and make arrests.² In practice, most recipients hold GS-1811 Criminal Investigator positions at agencies such as the FBI, DEA, ATF, Secret Service, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Sitting in an 1811 slot is not enough on its own. The investigator must also be expected to work, or be available for, substantial amounts of unscheduled duty. An agent in an 1811 position who spends all their time on administrative work with a predictable schedule would not qualify. The combination of investigative authority and genuinely irregular hours is what triggers LEAP.

How the 25 Percent Is Calculated

The rate is set by statute at 25 percent of the investigator’s basic pay.¹ Basic pay for this purpose includes any applicable locality adjustment, so investigators in high-cost areas like Washington, D.C. or San Francisco receive a larger LEAP dollar amount than those in lower-cost duty stations.³ When an investigator transfers between localities, the LEAP amount adjusts automatically because the underlying basic pay changes.

The 25 percent stays the same whether the investigator works 5 extra hours in a given week or 25. That flat design is the point. The government avoids processing overtime paperwork for every after-hours phone call or short-notice callout, and the investigator gets a predictable premium. The trade-off: no additional pay for most unscheduled work beyond what LEAP already covers.

Pay Caps

Two ceilings can limit total earnings. A biweekly cap prevents combined basic pay and premium pay in any pay period from exceeding the greater of the maximum GS-15 rate (with locality) or Level V of the Executive Schedule.⁴ An annual aggregate cap prevents total compensation from all sources in a calendar year from exceeding Level I of the Executive Schedule.⁵ These caps mainly affect senior investigators at the top of the pay scale in the most expensive duty stations; most mid-career agents never touch them.

The Two-Hour Daily Average Requirement

Keeping LEAP is not automatic. An investigator must average at least two hours of unscheduled duty per regular workday over the course of a year.⁶ Divide total unscheduled duty hours for the year by the number of regular workdays. If the result is two or more, the requirement is met.

Unscheduled duty means hours outside the 40-hour basic workweek that were not formally scheduled before the start of the administrative workweek. It includes both hours actually worked and hours the agency determined the investigator was available for immediate contact and deployment.² Hours worked on non-workdays such as weekends also count. Regularly scheduled overtime that was planned and authorized before the workweek began does not count, because predictable work is exactly what LEAP is not designed to compensate.⁶

Travel, Training, and Leave

Days spent in official travel, agency-approved training, paid leave (annual, sick, or FMLA), excused absences, and holidays are excluded from the denominator entirely. They do not count as “regular workdays” for the two-hour calculation.⁶ A two-week vacation does not dilute the average by adding workdays with zero unscheduled hours; those days are simply removed from the equation.

LEAP itself keeps getting paid during those periods even though the hours do not count toward certification.⁶ An investigator at Quantico for a month-long course still sees the 25 percent premium on every paycheck. The hours requirement measures normal duty days; the pay continues through authorized absences.

How LEAP Interacts With Overtime

Because LEAP is meant to cover most irregular work, the rules for earning additional overtime on top of it are narrow. Title 5 overtime is only authorized for scheduled overtime (planned before the administrative workweek) that meets one of two conditions: total hours on a regular workday exceed 10, or the work falls on a day entirely outside the basic workweek.¹ A Saturday surveillance detail scheduled in advance qualifies. Four extra hours added to a Tuesday shift without prior scheduling do not, because LEAP already covers that kind of work.

Investigators receiving LEAP are also exempt from the overtime and minimum-wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.⁷ The FLSA time-and-a-half rule after 40 hours does not apply. Title 5’s premium pay framework governs instead.

Effect on Retirement and TSP

LEAP counts as basic pay for retirement, the Thrift Savings Plan, and federal life insurance.⁷ Under FERS, the high-3 average used to calculate the annuity is based on the highest three consecutive years of basic pay. Because LEAP is included, the high-3 reflects the full salary plus the 25 percent premium, producing a larger pension than base salary alone would.⁸

The same applies to the Thrift Savings Plan. The 1 percent automatic agency contribution and matching contributions are calculated on LEAP-inclusive pay, and over a 20- or 25-year career the compounding effect is substantial. Federal law enforcement officers under FERS also receive an enhanced retirement multiplier of 1.7 percent per year for the first 20 years of service, versus the standard 1 percent. Applying that higher multiplier to a high-3 that already includes LEAP produces a considerably larger final annuity.

Annual Certification

Keeping LEAP requires paperwork. Each year, the investigator and a designated supervisory officer must sign a written certification attesting that the investigator met the two-hour average during the past year and is expected to continue meeting it going forward.⁹ New investigators, and those returning from a period without LEAP, complete an initial certification that looks forward only, confirming the expectation that the requirement will be met.²

This is not a rubber stamp. Investigators generally need to maintain daily logs of unscheduled duty hours to support certification. If a supervisor determines the hours were not met, they must deny or cancel the certification, and LEAP payments stop. Agencies keep certification records on file for potential audits.

Decertification and Appeal Rights

An involuntary reduction in pay caused by denial of certification qualifies as a reduction in pay under 5 U.S.C. § 7512(4), which means the investigator has appeal rights through the normal federal adverse-action process.² An agency cannot simply strip the premium without giving the investigator a chance to respond. Reinstatement requires a new certification period during which the investigator demonstrates they can meet the hours.

Voluntary Opt-Out

Investigators facing personal or family hardship can request a voluntary opt-out period during which they are assigned no unscheduled duty and LEAP payments stop. The request requires a written statement acknowledging that availability pay will not be paid during the opt-out.⁶ Approval is at the agency’s discretion. When the opt-out ends, a new initial certification is needed before LEAP resumes. This gives investigators a pressure valve when constant availability becomes unsustainable, without permanently ending their eligibility.

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Availability Pay
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5545a – Availability Pay for Criminal Investigators
3
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 550 – Pay Administration (General)
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5547 – Limitation on Premium Pay
5
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 530 Subpart B – Aggregate Limitation on Pay
6
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 550 Subpart A – Law Enforcement Availability Pay
7
U.S. Department of Commerce. Availability Pay
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FERS Computation
9
eCFR. 5 CFR 550.184 – Certification of Availability Pay