Title 5, Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-102

§9509 General Workforce Classification and Pay

Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart I — Miscellaneous › CHAPTER 95 — PERSONNEL FLEXIBILITIES RELATING TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE › § 9509

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Treasury may set up one or more "broad-banded" pay systems for some or all IRS workers. A broad-banded system groups jobs by combining several pay grades and pay ranges into wider bands for pay and job evaluation. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must approve the systems, set rules for them, and can ask the Treasury for information. Unless the law says otherwise, employees in these bands still follow the same laws and rules that apply to their normal pay system. OPM’s rules must at least require equal pay for substantially equal work; say how many grades can be combined into a band; set how to pick minimum and maximum pay for bands and how to change pay inside a band; set rules for supervisors’ pay; and set methods for pay when employees are converted, hired, promoted, demoted, reassigned, reinstated, moved to a different band or location, or move between pay systems. With OPM approval and a plan from the Secretary, some pay rules in subchapter VI of chapter 53 can be changed for these IRS employees.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §9509

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)For purposes of this section, the term “broad-banded system” means a system for grouping positions for pay, job evaluation, and other purposes that is different from the system established under chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 as a result of combining grades and related ranges of rates of pay in one or more occupational series.

(b)(1)(A)The Secretary of the Treasury may, subject to criteria to be prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management, establish one or more broad-banded systems covering all or any portion of the Internal Revenue Service workforce.

(B)With the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, a broad-banded system established under this section may either include or consist of positions that otherwise would be subject to subchapter IV of chapter 53 or section 5376.

(2)The Office of Personnel Management may require the Secretary of the Treasury to submit information relating to broad-banded systems at the Internal Revenue Service.

(3)Except as otherwise provided under this section, employees under a broad-banded system shall continue to be subject to the laws and regulations covering employees under the pay system that otherwise would apply to such employees.

(4)The criteria to be prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management shall, at a minimum—

(A)ensure that the structure of any broad-banded system maintains the principle of equal pay for substantially equal work;

(B)establish the minimum and maximum number of grades that may be combined into pay bands;

(C)establish requirements for setting minimum and maximum rates of pay in a pay band;

(D)establish requirements for adjusting the pay of an employee within a pay band;

(E)establish requirements for setting the pay of a supervisory employee whose position is in a pay band or who supervises employees whose positions are in pay bands; and

(F)establish requirements and methodologies for setting the pay of an employee upon conversion to a broad-banded system, initial appointment, change of position or type of appointment (including promotion, demotion, transfer, reassignment, reinstatement, placement in another pay band, or movement to a different geographic location), and movement between a broad-banded system and another pay system.

(c)With the approval of the Office of Personnel Management and in accordance with a plan for implementation submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary may, with respect to Internal Revenue Service employees who are covered by a broad-banded system established under this section, provide for variations from the provisions of subchapter VI of chapter 53.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 9509

Title 5, Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102