Shifting to a new pay system can be tricky, as federal executives have learned in recent months.
Congress, with a law that kicked in this year, moved the Senior Executive Service to a new pay system that proponents suggested could set the tone for revamping how other federal employees are paid. The law requires federal agencies to adopt stricter methods for evaluating their executives and to win approval of their new rating systems from the Office of Personnel Management.
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The new requirements, in turn, set off questions on how to resolve, for lack of a better phrase, calendar complications. For example, many agencies rate and rank their executives on a fiscal year cycle, while most performance appraisal certifications are issued by the calendar year and expire in December. Pay raises, meanwhile, are provided in January, at congressional direction.
To help sort it all out, OPM yesterday issued additional guidelines to help agencies through this transition year. They supplement regulations that came out in early December.
Agencies and many of the government's 6,000 career executives have considerable interest in complying with the new rules. Under them, agencies with certified performance appraisal systems may raise the salaries of their top-ranked executives by as much as $13,000. (The certification rules do not apply to SES raises below Executive Schedule Level III, which is $145,600 this year.)
OPM's latest guidelines make it clear that agencies holding certifications that expire Dec. 31 can still provide pay raises to executives in January based on their 2004 job ratings. The raises also hinge on the continuation of the appraisal system into 2005.
Agencies that did not obtain certification this year but applied for certification in 2005 may use their 2004 performance appraisals to justify an executive's raise if the rating was done after Sept. 30 and their system complies with regulations, OPM said.
As of yesterday, 30 agencies had been certified to offer higher salaries to their top executives. Some large departments -- including Defense, Homeland Security and Housing and Urban Development -- had not filed their applications, OPM officials said.
Agencies that wait until next year to obtain certification also will be allowed to use 2004 employee evaluations made after Sept. 30, assuming their performance appraisal system passes muster with OPM.
Retirements
William O. Fink, an assistant regional director for strategic planning and performance management for the National Park Service in Houghton, Mich., will retire Dec. 25 with nearly 34 years of federal service.
During the government shutdown of late 1995 and early 1996, Fink staged a "work-in" as a park superintendent. He was threatened with dismissal for violating the Anti-Deficiency Act but instead received a reprimand. At the time, he said he was angry that federal employees were being used as pawns in a political fight.
George Henschel, counsel for OSHA safety standards in the solicitor's office at the Labor Department, will retire Dec. 31 after a 30-year federal career.
Jessie Morris-Hines, a legal assistant at the Labor Department, will retire Jan. 3 after 37 years of government service.
Jean D. Sefchick, assistant chief financial officer for acquisitions at the Federal Trade Commission, retires this month after 36 years of federal service.
Joseph M. Sheehan, supervisory regulatory counsel at the Food and Drug Administration, will retire Jan. 3 after 30 years of federal service. Sheehan served as director of the FDA's medical device regulations staff.
Richard Henry Swann, chief electrician of the Washington Navy Yard power plant, will retire Jan. 3 after 44 years of federal service.
Ralph D. Welsh Jr., a satellite instrument development manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, will retire Dec. 31 after 42 years and nine months of government service.
Daniel L. Winegrad, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense (advanced systems and concepts), will retire Jan. 3 after more than 39 years of federal service.
Diary Live, Then a Holiday Break
Please join me at noon today for a discussion of federal employee and retiree issues on Federal Diary Live at www.washingtonpost.com. The column, meanwhile, is taking a holiday break. It's back on Sunday.
E-mail: barrs@washpost.com
