Panel votes to ease pay 'compression' at upper levels

A House Government Reform subcommittee Wednesday approved a bill aimed at reducing "compression" in federal pay scales for administrative law judges and other senior employees.

The measure (H.R. 3737) -- which passed the Civil Service subcommittee by voice vote -- addresses situations where higher paid workers stop getting raises because of a pay cap, resulting in a compression of the overall pay scale.

"Pay compression is a serious problem affecting the federal government, especially in high-cost areas, where many senior managers do not receive full pay raises because they are already at the pay cap," said Subcommittee Chairman Jo Ann Davis of Virginia. "Pay compression hinders the government's ability to hire and retain our most experienced and skilled employees."

Davis said the bill would raise the pay cap (base pay plus locality pay) for affected groups "from Executive Level III [of the federal executive pay scale] to Executive Level II. In current dollars, that is an increase from $145,600 to $158,100 -- enough to make a real difference to those affected by the cap."

Originally the bill applied only to administrative law judges, but a substitute by Davis -- which generated no opposition -- added contract appeals board members, as well as senior, scientific and professional employees.

The subcommittee also approved by voice vote, an amendment by Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., to determine the impact of the salary increases on other high-level government officials including federal judges, and whether "Congress needs to consider pay raises for other senior positions in government."