House votes pay raises for administrative judges

Administrative law judges could expect more frequent pay raises under legislation passed by the House Monday.

The bill, H.R. 915, gives the President the authority to adjust annual pay for more than 1,300 federal administrative law judges (ALJs). The basic pay for ALJs has been raised only three times since 1991, while other federal employees have received annual pay increases.

Under current law, pay for ALJs is linked to the Executive Schedule, instead of the General Schedule or the Senior Executive Service pay scale. This arrangement means that the President's annual cost-of-living adjustments for GS and SES employees does not apply to ALJs.

While SES members have received pay adjustments in four of the past five years, ALJs got a cost-of-living raise only once. In fact, the first three steps of the ALJ pay scale are now lower than the maximum rate for the highest level in the general schedule, GS-15.

The pay disparity could cause recruiting problems, said Ronald G. Bernoski, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, in testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law in May. The low pay will deter top lawyers from becoming ALJs, Bernoski said.

H.R. 915 would fix the problem by establishing minimum and maximum salaries for ALJs. The President would have the authority to adjust pay rates within those ranges. ALJ cost-of-living adjustments would be linked to the Senior Executive Service instead of the Executive Schedule.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the change would cost between $3 million and $6 million annually.