Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry reminded agencies on Wednesday that within-grade pay increases should be reserved only for employees with acceptable performance ratings.
In a letter to agency heads, Berry noted that only employees who have demonstrated an acceptable level of competence by receiving ratings of full successful or higher should receive within-grade pay increases. Under federal law, employees without acceptable ratings must not receive such increases, he noted.
"Leadership is responsible for properly implementing this statutory and regulatory requirement and ensuring that within-grade increases are not grated to employees with ratings of record below the fully successful level," Berry wrote. "The payment of within-grade increases should never be viewed as automatic or routine."
Under the General Schedule pay system, each grade has ten steps. Within-grade increases are periodic increases offered to permanent employees every one, two or three years until the employee reaches the top level of their grade.
Are underperforming employees in your office receiving within-grade pay increases? What impact does it have on office morale and performance?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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