Upping the SES pay cap

This year, if a federal executive in San Francisco were promoted from Senior Executive Service Level 3 to the top level, Level 6, the executive would get a corresponding pay raise of $0. The executive's salary at Level 3 is $133,700 and would be $133,700 at Level 6 too. No federal executive can make more than a $133,700 salary this year. That is the rate of pay on Level III of the pay scale for members of Congress and Cabinet officials. For members of the SES, Level III serves as the cap on base pay plus locality pay. The political pay scale's Level IV, which is $125,700 this year, serves as the cap on base pay for career executives. Congress has voted to block political pay raises every year since 1993, except for 1998, 2000 and 2001. Over time, more and more career executives have seen their salaries reach the pay cap, so that now executives at the top three of the six SES levels all earn the same amount of money. In eight cities, federal executives at the top four levels are all paid the same. This week, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., introduced a bill (H.R. 1824) that would push the cap on base pay from Level IV of the political schedule to Level III. That would allow executives to get full raises, at least over the next few years, even if Congress doesn't allow political pay to rise. Under the bill, executives would also be assured that they would get the same raises as General Schedule employees in Washington get each year. The bill would also increase pay for personnel in the judicial branch. The Senior Executives Association has been trying for several years to convince Congress to raise the cap on executive pay. S and I Update Some federal employees are already putting their money into the two new funds in the Thrift Savings Plan. On May 1, the TSP expanded from three to five funds. The new S Fund invests in small- and mid-sized companies' stocks, while the new I Fund invests in international stocks. As of May 11, TSP participants have transferred $116 million of their existing account balances into the S Fund and $60 million into the I Fund. Those transfers will take effect on May 31. Federal workers have also begun allocating future payroll contributions to the I and S Funds. Such allocations take effect with the next paycheck after employees make changes. So far employees have allocated $449,885 in future contributions to the S fund and $261,250 to the I Fund. The numbers so far are small-the C Fund, in comparison, has more than $60 billion invested in it. Pension Fix Some Civil Service Retirement System pensioners will start receiving a higher annuity in June. That's because the government discovered it had underestimated the consumer price index in 1999. The CSRS cost-of-living adjustment in January 2000, which is based on the index, should have been 2.5 percent rather than 2.4 percent. The government is correcting its mistake in pensioners' June checks. Some pensioners will also receive a lump-sum payment for money that should have been in checks covering the period from December 1999 to April 2001. For more information see OPM's Web site.