Sec.

5361.

5362.

5363.

5364.

5365.

5366.

5371.

5372.

5372a.

5373.

5374.

5375.

5376.

5377.

5378.

5379.

5381.

5382.

5383.

5384.

5385.

SUBCHAPTER VI-GRADE AND PAY RETENTION

Definitions.

Grade retention following a change of positions or reclassification.

Pay retention.

Remedial actions.

Regulations.

Appeals.

SUBCHAPTER VII-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Health care positions.

Administrative law judges.

Contract appeals board members.

Limitation on pay fixed by administrative action.

Miscellaneous positions in the executive branch.

Police force of the National Zoological Park.

Pay for certain senior-level positions.

Pay authority for critical positions.

Police forces of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United

States Mint.

Student loan repayments.

SUBCHAPTER VIII-PAY FOR THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE.

Definitions.

Establishment and adjustment of rates of pay for the Senior Executive
Service.

Setting individual senior executive pay.

Performance awards in the Senior Executive Service.

Regulations.

SUBCHAPTER IX-SPECIAL OCCUPATIONAL PAY SYSTEMS

5391. 5392.

Definitions.

Establishment of special occupational pay systems.

SUBCHAPTER I-PAY COMPARABILITY SYSTEM

§ 5301. Policy

It is the policy of Congress that Federal pay fixing for employees under the General Schedule be based on the principles that(1) there be equal pay for substantially equal work within each local pay area;

(2) within each local pay area, pay distinctions be maintained in keeping with work and performance distinctions;

(3) Federal pay rates be comparable with non-Federal pay rates for the same levels of work within the same local pay area; and

(4) any existing pay disparities between Federal and nonFederal employees should be completely eliminated.

$5302. Definitions

For the purpose of this subchapter

(1) the term "statutory pay system" means a pay system under

(A) subchapter III, relating to the General Schedule; (B) section 403 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, relating to the Foreign Service of the United States; or

(C) chapter 74 of title 38, relating to the Veterans Health Administration (other than a position subject to section 7451 of title 38);

(2) the term "ECI" means the Employment Cost Index (wages and salaries, private industry workers) published quarterly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics;

(3) the "base quarter" for any year is the 3-month period ending on September 30 of such year;

(4) the term "pay agent" means the agent designated by the President under section 5304(d)(1);

(5) the term "locality" or "pay locality" means any locality, as established or modified under section 5304;

(6) the term "pay disparity" as used with respect to a locality, means the extent to which rates of pay payable under the General Schedule are generally lower than the rates paid for the same levels of work by non-Federal workers in the same locality; except as otherwise required in this subchapter, a pay disparity shall be expressed as a single percentage which, if uniformly applied to employees within the locality who are receiving rates of pay under the General Schedule, would cause the rates payable to such employees to become substantially equal (when considered in the aggregate) to the rates paid to non-Federal workers for the same levels of work in the same locality;

(7) the term "comparability payment" means a payment payable under section 5304;

(8) the term "rates of pay under the General Schedule", "rates of pay for the General Schedule", or "scheduled rates of basic pay" means—

(A) the rates of basic pay set forth in the General Schedule; and

(B) in the case of an employee receiving a retained rate of basic pay under section 5363, the rate of basic pay payable under such section; and

(9) the term "General Schedule position" means any position to which subchapter III applies.

§ 5303. Annual adjustments to pay schedules

(a) Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1 of each calendar year, the rates of basic pay for each statutory pay system shall be increased by the percentage (rounded to the nearest one-tenth of 1 percent) equal to one-half of 1 percentage point less than the percentage by which the ECI for the base quarter of the year before the preceding calendar year exceeds the ECI for the base quarter of the second year before the preceding calendar year (if at all).

(b)(1) If, because of national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, the President should consider the pay adjustment which would otherwise be required by subsection (a) in any year to be inappropriate, the President shall

(A) prepare and transmit to Congress before September 1 of the preceding calendar year a plan for such alternative pay adjustments as he considers appropriate, together with the reasons therefor; and

(B) adjust the rates of pay of each statutory pay system, in accordance with such plan, effective on the same day as the increase under subsection (a) would otherwise take effect.

(2) In evaluating an economic condition affecting the general welfare under this subsection, the President shall consider pertinent economic measures including, but not limited to, the Indexes of Leading Economic Indicators, the Gross National Product, the unemployment rate, the budget deficit, the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, the Employment Cost Index, and the Implicit Price Deflator for Personal Consumption Expenditures.

(3) The President shall include in the report to Congress under paragraph (1)(A) his assessment of the impact that the alternative pay adjustments under this subsection will have on the Government's ability to recruit and retain well-qualified employees.

(c) The rates of basic pay that take effect under this section(1) shall modify, supersede, or render inapplicable, as the case may be, to the extent inconsistent therewith, any prior rates of basic pay under the statutory pay system involved (as last adjusted under this section or prior provisions of law); and (2) shall be printed in the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations.

(d) An increase in rates of basic pay that takes effect under this section is not an equivalent increase in pay within the meaning of section 5335.

(e) This section does not impair any authority pursuant to which rates of basic pay may be fixed by administrative action.

(f) Pay may not be paid, by reason of any provision of this section (disregarding any comparability payment payable), at a rate in excess of the rate of basic pay payable for level V of the Executive Schedule.

(g) Any rate of pay under this section shall be initially adjusted, effective on the effective date of the rate of pay, under conversion rules prescribed by the President or by such agency or agencies as the President may designate.

§ 5304. Locality-based comparability payments 1

(a) Pay disparities shall be identified and reduced as follows:

Section 302 of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-509; 104 Stat. 1462) provides as follows:

SEC. 302. INTERIM GEOGRAPHIC ADJUSTMENTS.

(a) DEFINITIONS.-For the purpose of this section

(1) the term "area" means any consolidated metropolitan statistical area, primary metropolitan statistical area, or metropolitan statistical area, with at least 5,000 General Schedule employees; and

(2) the term "pay relative" shall have the meaning given such term under regulations prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(b) AUTHORITY. (1) The President may establish geographic adjustments of up to 8 percent of basic pay which may be paid to each General Schedule employee (including an employee covered by the performance management and recognition system) whose duty station is within any area where such adjustment is needed (as determined under paragraph (2)).

(2) In determining areas where an interim geographic adjustment is needed, the President shall consider available evidence of significant pay disparities, including BLS information on pay relatives and relevant commercial surveys, and recruitment or retention problems.

(c) ADMINISTRATION. (1) An adjustment under this section shall be administered to the extent practicable in the same manner as locality-based comparability payments under subchapter I of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code (as amended by this Act), including in terms of— Continued

(1) Comparability payments shall be payable within each locality determined to have a pay disparity greater than 5 percent.

(2)(A) The localities having pay disparities, and the size of those disparities, shall, for purposes of any comparability payment scheduled to take effect in any calendar year, be determined in accordance with the appropriate report, as prepared and submitted to the President under subsection (d)(1) for purposes of such calendar year.

(B) Any computation necessary to determine the size of the comparability payment to become payable for any locality in a year (as well as any determination as to the size of any pay disparity remaining after that comparability payment is made) shall likewise be made using data contained in the appropriate report (described in subparagraph (A)) so prepared and submitted for purposes of such calendar year.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), the amount of the comparability payments payable under this subsection in a calendar year within any locality in which a comparability payment is payable shall be computed using such percentage as the President determines for such locality under subsection (d)(2), except that—

(A) the percentage for the first calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 5 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(B) the percentage for the second calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 3/10 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(C) the percentage for the third calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be

(A) the basic pay to which a percentage is applied in computing an amount payable under this section;

(B) the purposes for which any amount under this section is to be considered part of basic pay;

(C) the time and manner in which amounts under this section are to be paid (including any maximum rate limitation); and

(D) the authority of the President, upon request of an agency head, to extend this section to employees who would not otherwise be covered.

(2) No amount payable under this section shall be taken into account in any survey or computation under, or for any other purpose in the administration of, section 5304 of title 5, United States Code (as so amended).

[To reflect the probable intent of Congress this subsection has not been redesignated, notwithstanding section 3(4)(B) of Public Law 102-378.]

(d) COMMENCEMENT AND TERMINATION RULES. (1) The effective date of an adjustment under this section shall be as determined by the President, but not later than January 1, 1994.

(2)(A) The size of any payments under this section may be reduced or terminated after the amendments made by section 101 of this Act take effect, except that the reduction or termination of a payment under this section may not have the effect of reducing, for the individual involved, the total rate at which additional forms of basic pay (as defined in subparagraph (B)) are payable to such individual.

(B) The total rate to which subparagraph (A) applies is the sum of

(i) the rate at which comparability payments (under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by such Act) are payable; and

(ii) the rate at which payments under this section are payable.

(e) EMPLOYEES RECEIVING SPECIAL PAY RATES.-The President (or his designated agent) shall determine what, if any, geographic adjustment shall be payable under this section in the case of an employee whose rate of pay is fixed under section 5303 of title 5, United States Code (as in effect before the date of enactment of this Act), section 5305 of title 5, United States Code (as amended by section 101 of this Act), or any similar provision of law.

(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.-This section shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

less than 5 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(D) the percentage for the fourth calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 2 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(E) the percentage for the fifth calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 5 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(F) the percentage for the sixth calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 10 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent;

(G) the percentage for the seventh calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 5 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent,

(H) the percentage for the eighth calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section may not be less than 10 of the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent; and

(I) the percentage for the ninth calendar year in which any amounts are payable under this section, and any year thereafter, may not be less than the full amount necessary to reduce the pay disparity of the locality involved to 5 percent.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be considered to preclude the President, in his discretion, from adjusting comparability payments to a level higher than the minimum level otherwise required in a calendar year, including to the level necessary to eliminate a locality's pay disparity completely.

(b) After the ninth calendar year (referred to in subsection (a)(3)(I)), the level of comparability payments payable within such locality may be reduced for any subsequent calendar year, but only if, or to the extent that, the reduction would not immediately create another pay disparity in excess of 5 percent within the locality (taking into consideration any comparability payments remaining payable).

(c)(1) The amount of the comparability payment payable within any particular locality during a calendar year

(A) shall be stated as a single percentage, which shall be uniformly applicable to General Schedule positions within the locality; and

(B) shall, for any employee entitled to receive a comparability payment, be computed by applying that percentage to such employee's scheduled rate of basic pay (or, if lower due to a limitation on the rate payable, the rate actually payable), subject to subsection (g).

(2) A comparability payment

(A) shall be considered to be part of basic pay for purposes of retirement under chapter 83 or 84, as applicable, life insurance under chapter 87, and premium pay under subchapter V of chapter 55, and for such other purposes as may be expressly