§9814 Qualifications Pay

Summary

The Administrator can set a General Schedule employee’s pay at any step in the grade if the employee has unusually high or unique qualifications and is given new duties without changing position, or is moved to a new position. If the move is inside the Administration, the Administrator must find the employee will contribute more in the new role. That pay counts as basic pay under section 5334 and, after the employee serves at least 1 year in that job or a successor job, it may be used in later pay actions under chapter 53. Before using this authority, the Administrator must send a plan to the Office of Personnel Management and the appropriate committees of Congress. The plan must show the approval criteria and level, list the actions and positions covered, explain how this pay relates to other pay incentives, and describe how the program will be evaluated.