Pay, Payroll, DFAS and Pay Issues

Buckle up your chin strap because this is a confusing one. CIVMAR pay is way more complicated than it needs to be, but it is important to understand. At some point in your career, you will want to pull your hair out and smash your head into a wall over some pay issue. The pay doesn’t make sense, but it is what we have. More detailed articles about specific pay scenarios can be found on CIVMAR.com as well as our pay calculators. 

CIVMARs are paid on a biweekly basis, with pay-day being every other Friday.

CIVMARs are paid for 112 hours per pay period. CIVMARs are technically paid for weekend hours. In reality, this doesn’t mean much. All it does is make the hourly rate lower. CIVMAR pay is still based on salary, but your Leave and Earnings Statement should indicate 112 hours to mean you received a full paycheck. If your LES says you were paid for less than 112 hours, there is a problem.

There are normally 26 pay periods per year. To get your base pay per pay period (pay without overtime or other incentive) divide your salary by 26.

A Leave and Earning Statement, known as an LES, is a CIVMAR pay stub. It is important to learn how to read and understand an LES. For a more in depth article on how to read and LES, see our article INSERT NAME OF ARTICLE. All LESs and other important pay information can be found on MyPay. MyPay is an important website, but we will touch more on that later.

When a CIVAMR is working on a federal holiday, the entire day will be overtime. If you are on leave for a federal holiday, you will not be charged leave, it’s a freebie. For pay purposes, when a holiday falls on Saturday, it will be observed on the preceding Friday. When a holiday falls on Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. The ten legal public holidays for CIVMARs are:

New Years Day (January 1st)

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday (3rd Monday in January)

President’s Day (3rd Monday in February)

Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)

Juneteenth National Independence Day (June 19 ^th )

Independence Day (July 4th)

Labor Day (1st Monday in September)

Columbus Day (2nd Monday in October)

Veteran’s Day (November 11th)

Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in November)

Christmas Day (December 25th)

Other holidays as granted by Executive Order

Here is where we start to get confusing. CIVMARs have Ship Pay Rates and Shore Pay (also known as Pool Pay) rates. CIVMAR pay depends on a few things: your rate, your coast, your ships coast and the class of ship. To make matters more confusing, some rates have higher variability in pay than others while other positions do not change.

For example, Junior Supply Officers, Supply Officers, Medical Service Officers and Pursers base pay never changes. Ship, shore, East Coast, West Coast, big ship, little ship, their base pay stays the same. On the other hand, Mates and Engineers are paid based on the tonnage or mission of the ship, as well as their coast. If you think this is confusing, it is. To make understanding CIVMAR pay easier, we created a ship pay calculator that can be found under “MSC Tools”. Just enter your rate, the ship you are going to, and your permanent coast and it will give you the proper information.

There are many different overtime codes and premium pays available to CIVMARs. Again, the codes available to you will depend on your ship, your rate, your coast and the specific vessel. Other premium pays vary by ship class. Some examples include Hazardous Duty Pay (Ammo Pay) and berthing pay. The CMPI 610 governs overtime codes and premium pay. This document can be found here LINK. 

The pay process is slightly different whether you are onboard a ship or on leave. Regardless of where you are, DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) is the Department of Defense’s payroll agency/another government agency. Ultimately all pay is processed through DFAS. 

When onboard a ship, your supervisor is your timekeeper and will enter your overtime hours and other pays into DHAMS (Department Head Afloat Management System). If you are on a ship and are missing overtime hours or have a timekeeping problem, your supervisor is the person who can correct it. Each pay period, the Purser will process pay entries and submit it ashore to DFAS for processing and payment.

When you are not attached to a ship, your Marine Placement Specialist (detailer) is your supervisor and responsible for timekeeping. Detailers enter pay into a system called HRMS (Human Resources Management System) not DHAMS. Additionally, HRMS then replicates to another system called ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that then sends information to DFAS. While it is rare you will work overtime while not on a ship, your detailer is responsible for entering your leave request. Unlike DHAMS, HRMS does not default to a pay status and detailers enter AWOL (Absent Without Leave) as a default placeholder. If you do not submit a leave chit, you will not be paid. If you do not submit a leave chit, do not properly complete the form or enter dates incorrectly, you will not be paid or paid incorrectly. To make leave chits easier and more accurate, check out the “Leave Chit Calculator” under MSC tools.

As you have seen, CIVMAR pay is confusing and it has led to severe pay issues across the fleet. CIVMAR pay is processed by many different individuals and departments. Below will provide some additional detail on how CIVMAR pay flows.

Rate x Time = Pay 

To simplify pay, Rate x Time = Pay. Rate corresponds to your hourly pay rate (dollars per hour) and time referring to hours worked. For instance, if your hourly rate is $10 an hour and you work 10 hours, you will be paid $100.

Time is determined by your timekeeper. As mentioned, when you are on a ship, your supervisor is responsible for entering your time in DHAMS. When you are ashore, your detailer is responsible for entering your time into HRMS. If you are missing hours or charged AWOL, this is where you would start to rectify your pay issue.

Now here is the hard part. Your rate is determined by a document called an SF-50 Notice of Personnel Action. Your SF50 is an official document that indicates where you are and what you should be paid. A new SF50 needs to be created and processed each time you change status. For example, if you are in the pool and are then assigned to a ship, an SF50 needs to be processed taking you from the pool (and the pool rate of pay) and place you on a ship, so you receive the ship rate of pay. Here’s the catch, PERSACT, the MSC department that processes SF50s, is about 4-6 months behind in processing SF50s. That means there will be a delay between when your rate of pay changes in both directions. Since pool pay is lower than ship pay, you will be underpaid while on a ship until the SF50 is processed. Once the SF50 is processed, you will then receive backpay. Yes, that lump sum will be taxed. Then, once you depart the ship a new SF50 will need to be cut putting you back to a pool rate of pay, and you will likely be overpaid. No, this is not a gift from Uncle Sam, they will quickly take back the money and issue you a debt letter.

If this is happening to you, it is important to track what your earnings should be. While it is messed up and not your fault, it is your problem. You can find your current SF50 on the Total Workforce Management Site (TWMS). If your SF50 does not match where you are currently assigned, you have found your problem. I wish I could offer a silver bullet fix for you to quickly fix your SF50 processing problem, but CIVMARs are at the tender mercy of PERSACT processing times.

Total Workforce Management Site (TWMS): mytwms.dc3n.navy.mil

MyPay is an important website for CIVMARs to have access to. Once access has been obtained, CIVMARs may make changes to direct deposits, allotments (up to eight), federal and state tax withholdings and update payroll mailing address. Additionally, you can access all Leave and Earnings Statements (LES) issued within the past 26 pay periods as well as W-2 Income Tax Forms.

If you are Retired Military, you will only have one MyPay account. Once logged in to MyPay, you will be able to see two account choices: 1) Military Retiree Pay Account and 2) Military Sealift Command Pay Account, and you can view accordingly.

Link to MyPay: https://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx

Yes, CIVMAR pay is confusing and there is still much more to learn, but these are the basics. If you want an in-depth explanation, help maximizing pay or sorting out a pay issue, consider contacting us at CIVMAR.com or using our career coaching services found under the “Services” section of the website. Safe Sailing! 

The maritime industry can be unpredictable. Missions, ports, policies and procedures frequently changes, and not having the most up to date information is frustrating. If something we wrote needs an update, or if we missed something important that should be added or highlighted, drop us a line via the form below and we will work to get the information updated as soon as possible! Safe sailing!