FAA boosts pay cap ceilings again
Payband system leaves some longtime employees with smaller raises than less experienced workers.
For the second year in a row, pay-capped employees at the Federal Aviation Administration will receive a raise.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey announced Wednesday that upper limits on paybands would be increased by 1.7 percent in 2007. Employees in the top band now can earn up to $168,000 annually, including locality pay.
The agency moved from the General Schedule to a paybanding system in 2000. Last year marked the first time officials had raised the payband ceiling since 2002. Employees who had reached the top of their bands complained they could not receive raises under the new system, regardless of their job performance.
About 2,000 FAA workers at the top of their paybands have sued the agency, claiming age discrimination, among other things, because they have been ineligible for raises. Many of those pay-capped are older workers at the top of their bands. According to Tim O'Hara, an FAA employee representing the class filing the lawsuit, about 6,500 FAA employees are pay-capped.
Blakey said she decided to raise the caps in response to a market survey.
"While the survey showed the current base salaries of FAA employees are more than competitive, the paybands still lag behind the market and GS categories in some categories," Blakey said.
Even with the lifted ceiling, the 6,500 pay-capped employees will not get the full 2.7 percent raise most nonunion FAA employees are receiving this year. Many FAA employees also will receive an additional 0.5 percent average locality payment. Federal employees in most other agencies received a 2.2 percent raise, including locality pay.
In an issue paper that he sent to a number of FAA managers in early December, O'Hara said the agency wasn't living up to the idea of pay for performance, noting he had received one raise in four years.
"Those who choose to stay with the agency because of their commitment to the important mission of the FAA will do so while sacrificing pay comparability to other federal employees at other agencies," O'Hara said. "Their tenure, however, will come with low morale, high suspicions and continued further distrust of senior management."
Blakey also announced that she has formed a new group of FAA officials to create an employee recognition program, in response to an employee survey: "I have asked for their recommendations to include new forms of monetary and honorary recognition, plus employee recognition ceremonies as well as innovative ways to recognize our employees externally."