Federal Managers Association President Michael Styles has asked the Office of Personnel Management to add provisions to its civil service reform bill to ensure supervisors in agencies with broad-band pay systems make more money than the employees they manage.
In a May 19 letter to OPM Director Janice Lachance, Styles asked for assurance that managers and supervisors would be recognized for the additional duties they perform.
Styles suggested that OPM use language similar to that in the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act, which addresses pay for supervisors in broad-banding pay arrangements. The IRS proposal would extend broad-banding authority to the Secretary of the Treasury, subject to criteria established by OPM. The legislation specifically directs OPM to "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."
"This language represents an excellent starting point for ensuring that the governmentwide broad-banding authority envisioned [by OPM] provides adequate recognition of supervisors," Styles wrote.
OPM began circulating a draft human resources management legislative proposal in March that included proposals to allow agencies to set up broad-band systems and use more flexible pay administration features. Agencies would be given the authority to set the limits of pay bands and within-range adjustments for some or all GS employees.
The legislation is still in its beginning stages and does not yet specify criteria for paying managers more than the people they supervise, according to an OPM spokesperson. The administration plans to send the civil service reform legislation to the Hill during the next Congress.
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