Capitol Police Retirement Reform Act Adds FLSA Overtime to Pension Calculations for Long-Serving Officers

The Capitol Police Retirement Reform Act of 2026 aims to modernize how retirement pay is calculated for the officers protecting the U.S. Capitol. Currently, many federal law enforcement roles don't fully count overtime toward the 'basic pay' used to determine pension checks. This bill changes that by allowing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay to be included in the math, potentially giving officers a retirement income that better reflects the long hours they actually worked during their careers.

The 15-Year Milestone

Under the new rules in Section 2, there is a significant catch: an officer must put in at least 15 years of service before they can see a dime of this benefit. Think of it like a long-term vesting period. If an officer leaves the force after 10 years, their retirement calculation remains based on their standard salary only. For those who hit the 15-year mark, the bill allows overtime to count toward their annuity, but only for hours worked after the law officially goes into effect. This means a veteran officer with 20 years on the force today won't see their past decade of double shifts reflected in their future pension; the clock starts fresh once the bill is enacted.

Capping the Extra Pay

To keep the budget from spiraling, the bill doesn't allow for unlimited overtime inclusion. It sets a specific cap tied to the rules for Customs officers (19 U.S.C. 267(c)(1)). Specifically, the amount of overtime that can be counted as 'basic pay' is limited to 50% of the annual statutory maximum overtime allowed for those Customs officials. For a typical officer, this means that while their extra shifts during a busy protest season or a State of the Union address will finally help their retirement, there is a hard ceiling on how much that ‘extra’ can boost their monthly check.

Data and Dollars

Implementation of this change requires a new layer of bureaucracy between the Capitol Police and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The bill mandates that the Capitol Police provide annual reports to OPM to help calculate the 'normal-cost percentage'—basically, the math required to ensure the pension fund stays solvent with these higher payouts. While this is a clear win for long-term officers looking for a retirement that matches their actual workload, the administrative lift and the increased payouts will fall on the federal government’s ledger, requiring precise data tracking to manage the long-term costs of the new benefits.