B-240081, Jun 20, 1990
Highlights
Will not be applicable to senior officials in the Executive Schedule. Federal judges were linked to increases in the rates of pay for the General Schedule. /1/ Thus. Subsection 704(a) of that Act provides that these officials will still receive an annual pay adjustment when an adjustment is made in the rates of pay under the General Schedule. The amount of the adjustment will be based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI). A General Schedule pay increase that is made effective on or after January 1. Will not be payable to Executive Schedule officials. These officials will receive an increase based on the applicable ECI percentage as more fully described in subsection 704(a). Federal judges will no longer be authorized to receive any adjustment to General Schedule pay as provided in 5 U.S.C.
B-240081, Jun 20, 1990
CIVILIAN PERSONNEL - Compensation - Increase - Applicability DIGEST: A proposed pay increase under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5305 for General Schedule employees effective on or after January 1, 1991, will not be applicable to senior officials in the Executive Schedule, Members of Congress, and federal judges in light of the amendments contained in section 704 of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, Public Law 101-194.
Honorable Vic Fazio
Chairman, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives:
This responds to your question whether a proposal before the Congress to provide a 4.1 percent pay increase for employees under the General Schedule, to be effective January 1, 1991, would be applicable to the pay of senior government officials in the Executive Schedule, Members of Congress, and federal judges. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that any increase in pay for General Schedule employees on or after January 1, 1991, would not apply to Executive Schedule officials, Members of Congress, or federal judges.
In 1975 the salaries of senior officials in the Executive Schedule, Members of Congress, and federal judges were linked to increases in the rates of pay for the General Schedule. /1/ Thus, absent superseding legislation, these officials receive the same comparability adjustments made to the General Schedule under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5305, and at the same time. See 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5318; 28 U.S.C. Sec. 461; 3 U.S.C. Sec. 104; 2 U.S.C. Sec. 31(2) (1988).
The Ethics Reform Act of 1989, /2/ however, modified the method for determining comparability adjustments for Executive Schedule officials, Members of Congress, and federal judges. Subsection 704(a) of that Act provides that these officials will still receive an annual pay adjustment when an adjustment is made in the rates of pay under the General Schedule, but the amount of the adjustment will be based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI). Subsection 704(b) of the Ethics Reform Act provides that the modifications made by subsection 704(a) shall take effect on January 1, 1991. Therefore, a General Schedule pay increase that is made effective on or after January 1, 1991, will not be payable to Executive Schedule officials, Members of Congress, or federal judges. Instead, these officials will receive an increase based on the applicable ECI percentage as more fully described in subsection 704(a).
In short, effective January 1, 1991, Executive Schedule officials, Members of Congress, and federal judges will no longer be authorized to receive any adjustment to General Schedule pay as provided in 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5305. Adjustments in the pay of these officials will be governed by subsection 704(a) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989.
/1/ See the Executive Salary Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, Public Law 94 -82, Title II, 89 Stat. 419 (1975).
/2/ Public Law 101-194, 704, 103 Stat. 1716, 1769 (1989).