Force Account Labor and Equipment in Public Assistance

"Force account" is FEMA's term for an applicant's own workforce and equipment, as opposed to contractors. Under Public Assistance, an applicant's labor is reimbursed at the employee's actual pay rate plus the cost of fringe benefits, and its equipment at hourly rates rather than actual costs. FEMA's Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide (PAPPG) sets out the rules in its cost eligibility chapter, with the underlying rules in FEMA's regulations; those are the sources for this page.

The rule with the greatest effect is the one on straight-time pay. For permanent work, both regular (straight-time) pay and overtime are eligible, budgeted or not. For emergency work, the question is whether the labor cost was budgeted: overtime for budgeted employees is eligible and their straight-time pay generally is not, while unbudgeted labor — temporary hires among others — can be eligible for both, with the exceptions described below. Which kind of work an activity is therefore decides a good part of the labor claim.

Pay and benefits

FEMA's guide reimburses force account labor at the actual hourly pay rate plus the employee's actual fringe benefits, worked out as a percentage of the hourly rate. Because some benefits, such as health insurance, do not grow with the hours worked, the percentage for overtime usually differs from the one for regular time, and the guide treats the two separately. Benefits paid under an established written policy — leave, Social Security and Medicare contributions, unemployment and workers' compensation insurance, retirement, and health, life and disability insurance, among others — can be included.

Eligibility rests on the applicant's written labor policy as it stood before the disaster. FEMA's guide looks for three things: the policy does not make payment depend on federal funding, it is applied in the same way whether or not a disaster is declared, and it sets non-discretionary criteria for when each kind of pay applies. Where a policy does not meet those tests, the guide limits funding to the applicant's non-discretionary, uniformly applied rates. Pay for employees on leave of any kind is not eligible.

Regular time and overtime, by kind of work

For permanent work — the repair and restoration categories — FEMA's guide and regulations treat both regular time and overtime as eligible, whether or not the employee's position was budgeted. For emergency work — debris removal and emergency protective measures — the straight-time pay of budgeted employees is generally not eligible, and only their overtime is, with two exceptions beside the rule: straight-time pay for budgeted employees doing debris removal can be eligible under the Stafford Act's alternative procedures, and the regulation excepts a host state's evacuation and sheltering. Unbudgeted labor is eligible for both: temporary hires, essential employees called back from furlough, part-time or seasonal staff working outside their normal hours or season, and staff reassigned from a position funded by an outside source — whose straight time is eligible only when that source does not fund the work and FEMA confirms there is no duplication of benefits.

One more wrinkle the guide describes: where power restoration could be treated as either emergency or permanent work, claiming it as emergency work gives up straight-time pay for budgeted staff, and hazard mitigation funding is available only when it is claimed as permanent work.

Particular situations

FEMA's guide addresses a number of situations in turn. A reassigned employee is reimbursed at that employee's normal rate, since that is the applicant's cost, rather than the rate usual for the work. When an employee is pulled onto eligible emergency work, the cost of a backfill can be eligible for a limited period under conditions the guide describes. Overtime for senior supervisors and department heads is usually not eligible unless the applicant shows their direct involvement in a specific project, normally charges their time to projects whatever the funding source, and pays under a compliant labor policy. Premium pay — call-back pay, shift differentials and hazardous-duty pay — can be eligible for essential employees doing eligible emergency work when it is paid by the hour under a compliant pre-disaster policy, while bonuses and incentive pay are not. Standby time for labor is eligible only intermittently and only for staff carrying out evacuation and sheltering, search and rescue or emergency medical care, under the applicant's normal policy or a contract.

Equipment rates

FEMA funds applicant-owned equipment at hourly rates under its regulations, or by mileage for vehicles when that is documented and cheaper. FEMA publishes a national Schedule of Equipment Rates whose rates bundle all ownership and operating costs except the operator's labor — depreciation, overhead, maintenance, tires, lubrication and fuel — so an applicant using the FEMA rates cannot also claim fuel or a mechanic's time. Rates a state, territory or Tribal Nation has established for its day-to-day operations are funded up to a level the guide sets, with market support needed above it; for local rates FEMA generally pays the lower of the local rate and the FEMA rate, with a documented basis and FEMA's approval needed for a higher one. Where no rate exists, the FEMA rate applies, and where FEMA has none either the applicant may propose one with market support for each component. Rental rates are not a basis, because they include profit. Equipment bought to respond to the disaster can be funded with its purchase price, subject to disposition rules, plus either the rate or actual fuel and maintenance.

Rates apply only while equipment is operating. Standby time is not eligible unless the operator uses the equipment intermittently for more than half of the working hours in a day, in which case the intermittent standby is; moving equipment to an eligible site is eligible.

The records the PAPPG expects

FEMA's guide scales the documentation to the size of the project. For labor on a small project, an itemized summary — the number of employees, budgeted and unbudgeted hours, and average regular-time and overtime rates with benefits — is enough; a large project calls for the pay policy and a record for each employee: name, title and function, dates and hours, pay and benefit rates, descriptions of the work with daily logs or activity reports, timesheets and the benefit calculations. For equipment, a small project lists usage hours and cost by type; a large project records each item's type and attachments, where it was used, the FEMA equipment code or the rate schedule relied on, and the operator with the dates and hours each day, with invoices for purchased equipment. The guide's closeout package for a large project includes the timesheets, trip tickets, work orders and pay policies behind the claim. Our page on categories A through G describes how work is classified, which is where the labor rules begin.