experience, is not due special placement on the waiting list, is not given advance hiring preference, and does not receive consideration for accelerated promotion back to the grade held at time of transfer.

(e) Special needs. For special needs, such as Inmate Financial Responsibility assignment to assist in paying a significant financial obligation or for release preparation, the unit team may recommend an inmate for priority placement on the waiting list. Such placement must be documented and include the reason for the exception.

$345.34 Refusal to employ.

(a) The SOI has authority to refuse an FPI assignment to an inmate who, in the judgment of the SOI, would constitute a serious threat to the orderly and safe operation of the FPI factory. A refusal to assign must be documented by a memorandum to the unit team listing reasons for the refusal, with a copy to the position classification files in FPI. Typically, the reasons should include other earlier (ordinarily within the past twelve months) documented violations of the FPI inmate worker standards or institution disciplinary regulations.

(b) The refusal to assign is to be rescinded when, in the judgment of the SOI, the worker no longer constitutes a serious threat to the FPI industrial operation.

$345.35 Assignments to FPI.

(a) An inmate or detainee may be considered for assignment with FPI unless the inmate is a pretrial inmate or is currently under an order of deportation, exclusion, or removal. However, an inmate or detainee who is currently under an order of deportation, exclusion, or removal may be considered for assignment with FPI if the Attorney General has determined that the inmate or detainee cannot be removed from the United States because the designated country of removal will not accept his/her return. Any request by an inmate for consideration must be made through the unit team. FPI does not discriminate on the bases of race, color, religion, ethnic origin, age, or disability.

(b) The SOI ordinarily makes assignments based on the recommendation of the unit team.

(1) New workers are ordinarily assigned at pay grade five. All first-time inmate workers shall enter at pay grade five and may be required to successfully complete a course in pre-industrial training or on-the-job training (as available) before promotion to pay grade four.

(2) An inmate who has not successfully completed pre-industrial or onthe-job training remains at pay grade five for at least 30 days.

(3) An inmate hired after having resigned voluntarily from FPI may be excused from pre-industrial training and may be hired at a pay grade based on previous training and experience.

[60 FR 15827, Mar. 27, 1995, as amended at 64 FR 32169, June 15, 1999]

Subpart E-Inmate Worker Standards and Performance Appraisal

$345.40 General.

This subpart authorizes the establishment of minimum work standards for inmate workers assigned to the Industries program at all field locations. The SOI may reproduce these standards and may also develop additional local guidelines to augment these standards and to adapt them to local needs and conditions. Local Industries shall place these standards and any additional local guidelines on display at appropriate locations within the industrial sites. Inmates shall be provided with a copy of these standards and local guidelines, and shall sign receipts acknowledging they have received and understand them before beginning work in the Industries program. In the case of a disabled inmate, alternate media or means of communicating this information and indicating the inmate's receipt may be provided, if necessary as a reasonable accommodation. (a) At a minimum, each industrial location is to have work standards for each of the following areas:

(1) Safety ensuring the promotion of workplace safety and the avoidance of activities that could result in injury to self or others.

(2) Quality assurance-ensuring that work is done as directed by the supervisor in an attentive manner so as to minimize the chance of error.

(3) Personal conduct and hygieneensuring the promotion of harmony and sanitary conditions in the workplace through observation of good hygiene and full cooperation with other inmate workers, work supervisors, and training staff.

(4) Punctuality and productivity-ensuring the productive and efficient use of time while the inmate is on work assignment or in training.

(b) Compliance with work standards. Each inmate assigned to FPI shall comply with all work standards pertaining to his or her work assignment. Adherence to the standards should be considered in evaluating the inmate's work performance and documented in individual hiring, retention, and promotion/demotion situations.

$345.41 Performance appraisal for inmate workers.

Work supervisors should complete a performance appraisal form for each inmate semi-annually, by March 31 and September 30, or upon termination or transfer from the industrial work assignment. Copies shall be sent to the unit team. Inmate workers should discuss their appraisals with their supervisors at a mutually agreeable time in order to improve their performance. Satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance ratings shall be based on the standards in § 345.40(a).

(a) The SOI is to ensure that evaluations are done and are submitted to unit teams in a timely manner.

(b) The SOI or a designee may promote an inmate to a higher grade level if an opening exists when the inmate's skills, abilities, qualifications, and work performance are sufficiently developed to enable the inmate to carry out a more complex FPI factory assignment successfully, when the inmate has met the institution's time-in-grade (unless waived by the SOI), and when the inmate has abided by the inmate worker standards. Conversely, the SOI or SOI designee may demote an inmate worker for failing to abide by the inmate worker standards. Such demotions shall be fully documented.

§ 345.42 Inmate worker dismissal. The SOI may remove an inmate from Industries work status in cooperation with the unit team.

(a) The SOI may remove an inmate from FPI work status according to the conditions outlined in the pay and benefits section of this policy and in cooperation with the unit team.

(b) An inmate may be removed from FPI work status for failure to comply with any court-mandated financial responsibility. (See 28 CFR 545.11(d)).

(c) An inmate found to have committed a prohibited act (whether or not it is FPI related) resulting in segregation or disciplinary transfer is also to be dismissed from Industries based on an unsatisfactory performance rating for failure to be at work.

(d) Any inmate or detainee who is a pretrial inmate or who is currently under an order of deportation, exclusion, or removal shall be removed from any FPI work assignment and reassigned to a non-FPI work assignment for which the inmate is eligible. However, an inmate or detainee who is currently under an order of deportation, exclusion, or removal may be retained in the FPI assignment if the Attorney General has determined that the inmate or detainee cannot be removed from the United States because the designated country of removal will not accept his/her return.

[60 FR 15827, Mar. 27, 1995, as amended at 64 FR 32170, June 15, 1999]

Subpart F-Inmate Pay and Benefits

$345.50 General.

Title 18 U. S. Code section 4126 authorizes FPI to compensate inmates under rules and regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. It is the policy of FPI to provide compensation to FPI inmate workers through various conditions of pay and benefits, except as otherwise provided in these regulations.

$345.51 Inmate pay.

(a) Grade levels. Inmate workers in FPI locations receive pay at five levels ranging from 5th grade pay (lowest) to 1st grade pay (highest).

(b) Eligibility. (1) An inmate shall accrue vacation time, longevity service credit, and shall receive holiday pay for the period of time the inmate is officially assigned to the Industries work detail. For limitations on claims, refer to § 345.66.

(2) Inmate workers may be eligible for premium pay as specified in §345.52. Eligibility for other pay and benefits are described separately in this subpart.

(3) FPI pay and benefits are lost in cases of disciplinary transfer and segregation.

(4) An inmate returned to the institution due to program failure at a Community Corrections Center or while on parole or escape is not entitled to credit for time spent in Industries prior to said program failure. This rule also applies to any other program failure which results in a break in confinement status.

§345.52 Premium pay.

Payment of premium pay to selected inmates is authorized. The total number of qualifying inmates may not exceed 15% of first grade inmates at a location.

(a) Eligibility. Inmates in first grade pay status may be considered for premium pay.

(b) The selection process. Candidates for premium pay must be nominated by a foreman on the FPI staff, and recommended on the basis of specific posted criteria by a selection committee assigned by the SOI.

(1) The SOI, as the chief selecting official, must sign approval for all premium pay inmate selections. This authority may not be delegated below the level of Acting SOI.

(2) The selected candidate(s) are notified by the FPI Manager or by a posted list on the FPI bulletin board. A record of the selection and who was on the selection board is kept for documentation purposes. An inmate nominated to be a premium pay inmate may refuse the appointment without prejudice.

(c) [Reserved]

(d) Pay rate. Premium pay inmates receive a specified amount over and above all other pay and benefits to which they may be entitled (e.g., longevity pay, overtime, piecework rates,

etc.). Premium pay is also paid for vacation, holiday, and administrative hours.

(e) Duties of premium pay inmates. Premium pay is a means of recognizing the value of those traits supportive of morale and good institutional adjustment. It is not a form of bonus or incentive pay for highly productive inmates.

(f) Transfer status of premium pay inmates. Premium pay status may not be transferred from institution to institution with the inmate worker. Premium pay status must be earned at each location.

(g) Removals from premium pay status. Removal from premium pay status may occur for failure to demonstrate the premium pay selection traits or for failure to abide by the inmate worker standards set forth in this policy. All removals from premium pay status shall be documented on the inmate's evaluation form. The following conditions also may result in removal from premium pay status:

(1) Any premium pay inmate found to have committed any level 100 or 200 series offense by the DHO is automatically removed from premium pay status whether or not the offense was FPIrelated.

(2) Inmates absent from work for more than 30 consecutive calendar days may be removed from premium pay status by the SOI.

$345.53 Piecework rates.

Piecework rates are incentives for workers to strive for higher pay and production benefiting both the worker and FPI. Piecework rates may be of two major types: individual piecework (in which an individual's pay goes up or down depending upon his/her own output) or Group Wage Fund (in which all members of a group strive for higher rates or production output as a unit, and all share in a pool of funds distributed among work group members equally).

$345.54 Overtime compensation.

An inmate worker is entitled to overtime pay at a rate of two times the hourly or unit rate for hourly, individual, and group piecework rate workers, when the total hours worked (including administrative pay) exceed the

FPI factory's regularly scheduled workday. Hours worked on days other than the scheduled work week (e.g., Saturday) shall be compensated at the overtime rate.

$345.55 Longevity pay.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, an inmate earns longevity pay raises after 18 months spent in FPI work status regardless of whether or not the work was continuous. The service may have occurred in one or more FPI factories or shops. An inmate qualifies for longevity pay raises as provided in the table below:

Length of Service With FPI

After 18 months of service and payable in the 19th month

After 30 months of service and payable in the 31st month

After 42 months of service and payable in the 43rd month

After 60 months of service and payable in the 61st month

After 84 months of service (& more) and payable in the 85th month

Longevity pay allowances shall be added after the wages for each actual hour in pay status have been properly computed.

(b) Exceptions. (1) FPI work status during service of a previous sentence with a subsequent break in custody may not be considered in determining longevity pay.

(2) An inmate in segregation or who is given a disciplinary transfer loses any longevity status previously achieved.

(3) An inmate who voluntarily transfers to a non-FPI work assignment loses any longevity status previously achieved. An inmate who leaves FPI to enter education, vocational training, or drug abuse treatment programs, however, generally retains longevity and pay grade status upon return to FPI, unless the inmate withdraws from those programs without a good faith effort to complete them. The decision on whether there was a good faith effort is to be made by the SOI in concert with the staff member in charge of the program.

§ 345.56 Vacation pay.

Inmate workers are granted FPI vacation pay by the SOI when their continued good work performance justifies such pay, based on such criteria as quality of work, attendance and punctuality, attentiveness, and adherence to industry operating regulations. The inmate must submit a written request for vacation time, ordinarily two weeks in advance of the requested vacation time. The work supervisor must recommend to the SOI the vacation time to be taken or paid. Eligibility for vacation pay must be verified by the Business Office prior to approval by the SOI. The SOI may declare an inmate ineligible for vacation credit because of an inmate's unsatisfactory work performance during the month in which such credit was to occur.

(a) An inmate may take accrued vacation time for visits, participation in institution programs or for other good reasons at the discretion of the SOI. Industrial managers should make every reasonable attempt to schedule an inmate worker's vacations so as not to conflict with the workforce requirements of FPI factory production schedules and Inmate Systems Management requirements.

(b) An inmate temporarily assigned to the Industrial detail, e.g., on construction details, also earns vacation credit which he or she must take or be paid for at the end of the temporary assignment.

(c) An inmate must take and/or be paid for vacation credit within sixty days after each annual eligibility date of the inmate's most recent date of assignment to FPI. An inmate who elects not to take vacation time must indicate this in writing. That inmate shall receive pay for the annual vacation credit in a lump sum on the regular monthly payroll. This amount is ordinarily paid within sixty days after the annual eligibility date of the inmate's most recent date of assignment to FPI. An inmate whose employment is terminated by release, reassignment, transfer, or other reasons, and who has unused vacation credit shall be paid for this credit on the monthly payroll.

§ 345.63 Funds due deceased inmates. Funds due a deceased inmate for work performed for FPI are payable to a legal representative of the inmate's estate or in accordance with the law of descent and distribution of the state of domicile.

§ 345.64 Referral of releasable medical data to FPI staff.

The SOI is responsible for ensuring that appropriate releasable information pertaining to an inmate's medical limitation (e.g., back injury) is made available to the FPI staff member who directly supervises the assignment.

$345.65 Inmate medical work limitation.

In addition to any prior illnesses or injuries, medical limitations also include any illness or injury sustained by an inmate which necessitates removing the ill worker from an FPI work assignment. If an inmate worker is injured more than once in a comparatively short time, and the circumstances of the injury suggest an awkwardness or ineptitude which in turn indicates that further danger exists, the inmate may be removed to another FPI detail or to a non-FPI detail. § 345.66 Claims limitation.

Claims relating to pay and/or benefits must occur within one calendar year of the period of time for which the claim is made. Inmate claims submitted more than one year after the time in question require the approval of the Assistant Director before an inmate may receive such pay and/or benefit.

$345.67 Retention of benefits.

(a) Job retention. Ordinarily, when an inmate is absent from the job for a significant period of time, the SOI will fill that position with another inmate, and the first inmate will have no entitlement to continued FPI employment.

(1) For up to the first 30 days when an inmate is in medical idle status, that inmate will retain FPI pay grade status, with suspension of actual pay, and will be able to return to FPI when medically able, provided the absence was not because of a FPI work-related