Federal Firefighters Families First Act

The Federal Firefighters Families First Act would change how certain federal firefighters’ pay is used to calculate retirement benefits and set a limit on their regular workweek. The bill aims to improve pay equality with other federal and public-sector firefighters, and to bolster recruitment and retention by ensuring retirement calculations reflect regular hours and, to some extent, overtime during the firefighter workweek. Specifically, it would (1) reduce the annual hours used to compute average pay for retirement (moving from 2,756 to 2,087 hours), (2) add a formula that counts half of the basic hourly rate for overtime hours that are part of the regular tour of duty when calculating retirement benefits, (3) establish a maximum regular workweek of 60 hours, and (4) apply these changes to annuity entitlements for separations occurring more than 60 days after enactment. Regulations implementing the maximum hours would be issued by the Office of Personnel Management within a year. In short, the bill shifts retirement calculations to more heavily reflect regular and overtime work within a capped workweek, while aligning pay and benefits more closely with other public-sector firefighters.