FMA Applauds Rep. Norton’s Leadership on Salary Compression
President Joseph Biden took formal steps at the end of August to advance his proposed 4.6 percent pay raise for federal employees in 2023. Although FMA preferred and advocated for the 5.1 percent raise called for by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), we support the 4.6 percent raise, which marks the largest increase in twenty years.
At the same time, due to the pay cap, we are concerned about salary compression affecting an increasing number of feds -- a very real issue that will only get worse if no action is taken.
The federal pay cap will prevent even more federal managers from receiving their full raise. For General Schedule (GS) employees, the federal pay cap for basic and locality pay combined is set at the Executive Schedule Level IV pay rate, which in 2022 is $176,300. In 2022, this limited pay raises for managers in 30 locality pay areas. According to a February 2022 Congressional Research Service report, all GS-15 steps 4-10 in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland locality pay area receive the same rate of pay. And a Grade 14 step 10 salary is also $176,300. What is the incentive for that Grade 14 step 10 employee, or other managers, to strive for a higher-level position or to take on additional responsibilities when there is zero impact on their pay? And how do you keep the GS-15 from leaving federal service altogether when they can make much more in the private sector, where there is no pay cap?
FMA has been working for years to raise awareness on Capitol Hill about this issue, which gets worse every year. It is a recruitment and retention problem, and the federal workforce is already dealing with enough hiring issues competing with the private sector.
Fortunately, some in Congress have noticed, are speaking out, and are actively working on the issue. In July 2022, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced plans to introduce legislation to provide relief from the pay caps that currently prevents an increasing number of federal employees from receiving their full annual pay increases. Norton said her legislation would “help the federal government hire and retain the most qualified individuals. Pay adjustments are especially important during periods of high inflation.”
FMA immediately reached out to Del. Norton’s office and began working with her staff to provide insights and begin to shape what the final legislation could look like. We appreciate her leadership on the issue and look forward to working with her and her colleagues as she pursues this legislation. We also understand her realistic, commonsense approach to the issue. “While this bill would not solve all pay compression issues in the federal government, Norton believes it is an important step and is exploring ways to reduce pay compression in all federal pay systems,” she said in a press release.
We agree. But we need to start somewhere, and we applaud Norton for pushing this issue forward.
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The views reflected in this column are those of FMA and do not necessarily represent the views of FEDmanager. To learn more about the Federal Managers Association (FMA), visit their website: FedManagers.org.