§5377 Pay authority for critical positions

Summary

Lets the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), after talking with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), allow an agency head to set the basic pay for one or more special federal jobs when needed to hire or keep a person with extremely high-level expertise who is critical to the agency’s mission. "Agency" means the same as in section 5102. "Position" means certain federal jobs, including chapter 51 jobs (like the Senior Executive Service and FBI/DEA SES), jobs under the Executive Schedule (sections 5312–5317), jobs covered by sections 5372 or 5372a, jobs under section 3104, categories later designated under subsection (i), and FBI jobs whose main duties are intelligence. OPM may only give this pay-setting power if the job needs very high skill and is vital to the agency, and only to the extent needed to recruit or keep an exceptionally qualified person. Any pay set this way cannot be lower than what would otherwise be paid (including comparability payments) and cannot exceed the rate for Executive Schedule Level I unless the President gives written approval. OPM must stop the authority if the job no longer meets the rules or on a date OPM sets (but not before the authority has been in place at least 1 calendar year). At no time may OPM authorize more than 800 such positions, and no more than 30 of those may be jobs whose pay would otherwise be set under subchapter II. OPM must consult OMB before granting or ending authority and must send an annual written report to the House Committee on Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs listing how many and which positions used the pay, and naming each employee, the dates and rates paid, and what their pay would have been otherwise. Under subsection (i), "position" is defined as the job duties assignable to an employee (excluding some categories above), and the President may, at an agency’s request, designate whole job categories to be treated like the covered positions.