Administrative law judges seek higher pay

Administrative law judges, a unique breed of federal judges who work in the executive branch, are arguing for higher pay, but without the pay-for-performance component the Office of Personnel Management says should accompany any salary boost.

Representatives for the almost 1,500 administrative law judges employed by the government -- primarily at the Social Security Administration -- told a congressional panel this week that pay compression is weakening the applicant pool in their profession.

"While we can never expect to match the kind of salaries offered by top national law firms, the present entry level pay for ALJs is so low as to virtually assure that the ALJ program will be bottom feeding from the private bar, attracting only those whose practices are unsuccessful or worse," said William Cowan, vice president of the administrative law judges conference.

Cowan, who spoke Tuesday before House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization, said a cap on pay for ALJs is widening a gap between judges and their peers, including career agency staff who select cases for the judges to review and members of the Senior Executive Service, whose upper-end salary ranges are increasing more rapidly. Both those groups contain prospective candidates for ALJ positions.

The salary range for ALJs is $95,500 to $143,000, without locality pay. By comparison, the cap for SES pay is $165,200.

ALJs make determinations on the fairness of federal rules, such as those pertaining to agriculture, banking, energy, labor, transportation, new medications, Medicare and Social Security, and preside over hearings for aggrieved parties on those issues.

OPM's stance is that ALJs are not quitting in large numbers and the pool of applicants remains large -- both indications that the pay situation is fine.

"We have been able to respond to agency requirements for qualified ALJ candidates, and will be able to continue to do so," said Nancy Kichak, OPM's associate director for strategic human resources policy, at the hearing. "The existing register contains 1,197 qualified candidates for ALJ positions."

If OPM were to grant ALJs higher pay, the agency would require judges to adhere to a pay-for-performance system, Kichak told the panel. The administration has been pushing to extend such systems across government.

Judge R. Anthony McCann, president of the board of contract appeals judges association, which represents judges that issue binding decisions over contract disputes between government agencies and contractors, said a pay-for-performance scheme would damage judges' impartiality and credibility.

"Because the agency is always one party to any dispute, pay for performance would at the very least create doubt about the independence and impartiality of BCA judges," McCann said.

Kichak said she believes ALJs can maintain integrity within a performance-based pay system. She suggested using a peer review system where the judges rate one another in areas such as thoroughness of legal research. Such a system would be outside the influence of agency officials.