§9814 Qualifications Pay

Summary

The Administrator may set a General Schedule employee’s pay at any step in the grade’s pay range if the worker has unusually high or unique qualifications and is given new duties, either in the same job or in a new job. If the employee is moved to another position inside the agency, the Administrator must first decide the employee will contribute more in the new job than in the old one. Pay set this way counts as the employee’s basic pay. If the employee stays at least 1 year in that job (or a successor job), that pay can be used in later pay decisions under chapter 53. Before using this authority, the Administrator must send a plan to the Office of Personnel Management and the relevant congressional committees. The plan must list the approval rules, who must approve, what jobs and actions are covered, how this pay works with other pay incentives, and how the program will be evaluated.