Pay Rates – The U.S. General Schedules (USGSA) pays employees on a progressive scale that is based on their wages and salaries as well as their location or place of work. The USGSA covers many occupations such as attorneys, teachers and health care workers, mortgage brokers and loan officers, loan officers, bankers accountants, financial managers, accountants and public servants, contract workers and freight conductors. The qualifications for these occupations and the skills they require are described in depth in the General Schedule. The schedules for specific jobs cover those who work underground mines or in nuclear weapons storage sites. To ensure the compliance with labor laws to be ensured, detailed information is required in this area.
All employees must follow the schedule. It implies that no federal pay increase is granted to an employee for any pay period that is not covered by the General Schedule. The General Schedule contains the wages and salaries for full-time employees as well as part-time employees. Federal pay raises are only offered to full-time workers. Part-time workers are not qualified for a federal raise unless they choose to receive an one-time federal pay hike after reaching fifty. Therefore, if you’re an employee on a part-time basis and wish to receive the same amount as a full-time employee and you want to request a federal pay raise.
Pay Rates
There are a number of various factors that decide the salary of an employee. The amount of time a person has worked in a chosen profession, and the pay grades they earned during that time are utilized to determine the pay grade for GS. Thus, if you are currently working as a paralegal and are approaching the retirement age, you will be eligible to receive gs pay grade of B. Paralegals who have worked for five years and have achieved the highest pay scale for their profession are qualified for pay grades A and B. Federal employees are eligible for Gs pay grades as low as C for those with greater than five years‘ experience, but have not been promoted.
It is important to be aware that the formulas used in computing pay grades are confidential and are subject to the discretion of the federal office in which it is located. There are a few steps that are implemented by every office that makes up the GS payscale system. The majority of organizations using these tables will allow federal employees to compare their pay scale with the base paytable and the Special Rates Bonus (SARB) table.
Federal employees are eligible for a one time bonus through the Special Rates Bonus program (SARB). It is calculated by the gap between their base salary and the rate at which they receive. This could be sufficient to substantially reduce the amount of any salary increase. This rate is only available to employees who have been employed for at least one year for the federal government and are on the payroll of federal agencies. The SARB Bonus will only be applicable to federal employees, and has to be directly credited to the employee’s salary. The SARB discount is not applicable to the vacation pay earned over time.
Two sets of GS scale tables are utilized by federal agencies. Both sets of tables are used for regular adjustments to federal employees’ salaries. The difference between both tables is that one has annual adjustments which go much further in certain cases, while the other only is applicable to the initial years of the scale. There are also a few instances where Executive Order 13 USC Sections 3 and 5 regulate the application of the two tables for federal employees.
To fully reap the benefits provided by the federal government in providing better wages for federal employees, it’s essential that you are acquainted with their local pay charts. Local pay adjustments help to standardize the compensation rates for government employees who are located in specific regions. In the local compensation chart of the federal government, there are three levels for locality-based adjustments. These include the base rate, regional adjustment or specialized locality adjust. Federal employees who fall under the first level (base), of the locality compensation are paid in accordance with what the average wage is for those living in the same region as them. Employees in the second level (regional) of locality pay adjustment are paid wage increases that are less than the the base rate for their state and local area.
Locally-specific pay adjustments are also offered for medical professionals who are paid less in the area in which they reside and work. Medical professionals who work in the same location are entitled to a higher wage under this type of adjustment. Under the third level of the adjusted rate GS base wages are increased for all other categories of employees who are employed in more than one area however not in the same state. A rise in the adjusted rate of 2 percent may be granted to a San Diego medical specialist who is based in Orange County.