Tag: General Schedule

Obama Issues Order Implementing 1 Percent Pay Raise

Obama Issues Order Implementing 1 Percent Pay Raise

  • December 23, 2013
Svetlana Lugovskaya/Shutterstock.com

As expected, President Obama issued an executive order Monday implementing a 1 percent across the board pay increase for federal employees under the General Schedule in 2014.

The salary boost is the first for the entire white-collar federal workforce since 2010. The order also implements a 1 percent pay raise for uniformed military service members.

In August, President Obama affirmed his intention to grant the 1 percent increase. But that didn’t mean it was a done deal. In 2012, Obama recommended a 0.5 percent pay raise for 2013, only to have it struck down by Congress. Continue reading “Obama Issues Order Implementing 1 Percent Pay Raise”

Federal workers falling further behind in pay, council finds

Federal Eye

Federal workers falling further behind in pay, council finds

A federal advisory group reported Tuesday that federal workers have fallen slightly further behind the private sector in pay, a trend that union leaders said they hope will be stopped by getting the government back in the habit of paying annual raises.

The Federal Salary Council, a group of union officials and pay policy experts, said that the average “pay gap” in favor of the private sector now stands at 35.4 percent, up from 34.6 percent last year and 26.3 percent in 2011.

(Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

(Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

The pay gap figure, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, involves employees paid under the largest of the government’s many pay systems, the General Schedule for white-collar employees below the executive level. Pay rates under the GS system are locality-based, varying among 31 metropolitan areas, the entirety of both Alaska and Hawaii, and a catchall “rest of the U.S.” locality for everywhere else apart from foreign countries. Continue reading “Federal workers falling further behind in pay, council finds”

Feds Sail Smoothly Toward a 2014 Pay Raise

Feds Sail Smoothly Toward a 2014 Pay Raise

OlgaLis/Shutterstock.com

For months, federal employees have quietly waited to learn the fate of their long-awaited pay raise.

In August, President Obama affirmed his intention to grant an across-the-board, 1 percent increase. The first raise since 2010 was far from out of the woods, however. In 2012, Obama recommended a 0.5 percent pay raise for 2013, only to have it struck down by Congress.

Congress had the chance to do the same when it ended the government shutdown in October, but declined to do so. It once again could have struck down the raise in the latest budget agreement, but once again let the raise remain. Continue reading “Feds Sail Smoothly Toward a 2014 Pay Raise”

What Exactly is Fair in Federal Compensation?

What Exactly is Fair in Federal Compensation?

PhotoXpress

When it comes to pay, fairness is an elusive concept. What is too much, too little, just right? The answers depend on who’s talking, and when they’re talking.

This is why the debate about whether federal employees are over- or underpaid rages on. It’s complicated, relative, and, of course, political.

Federal compensation once again dominated government news headlines this week. Furloughs for 650,000 Defense Department civilians across the country began on Monday, guaranteeing those employees smaller paychecks this summer. Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel said he wants to get rid of performance bonuses in 2013 to reduce the number of furlough days employees are forced to take. And the Senior Executives Association is trying to reignite a discussion of pay compression, a byproduct of the government’s imperfect pay systems. Continue reading “What Exactly is Fair in Federal Compensation?”

Pay Looms Large in Budget Debate

Pay & Benefits Watch

Pay Looms Large in Budget Debate

There’s been a lot of talk about pay freezes in the last week. The debt ceiling suspension bill the House approved on Wednesday withholds lawmakers’ pay if they don’t pass a fiscal 2014 budget resolution by April 15. Legislation that would extend the pay freeze for federal employees was introduced, briefly put on the House floor schedule, and then postponed. And then there’s the looming trio of threats that could affect the pay of federal employees: a debt default, sequestration, and the possibility of a government shutdown if Congress allows the current continuing resolution to expire.

Let’s recap how federal pay could fare under each possible scenario facing government employees this winter and spring: Continue reading “Pay Looms Large in Budget Debate”

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