FAA Announces Pay Raises
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By Stephen Barr
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Federal Aviation Administration told its employees yesterday that they would receive a 3.08 percent pay raise and a geographic-based increase that will average about 1 percent plus an additional raise based on individual job performance.

The raises will go to most of the FAA's 45,000 employees, including air traffic controllers. Nearly 85 percent of the FAA workforce is covered by pay-for-performance rules, and 50 percent -- managers, supervisors, headquarters and regional office employees -- are covered by a system known as core compensation.

The basic pay raise of 3.08 percent could have been higher, but FAA acting administrator Robert A. Sturgell said employees fell short of meeting all of the agency's performance goals, such as on-time arrivals, financial management and customer satisfaction.

For 2008, base pay in the core compensation system will range from $16,900 to $159,700, excluding geographic-based increases, or locality pay.

Congress moved the FAA out of the government-wide pay system in 1995 as part of a larger effort to give the agency more leeway in hiring and promoting employees. Since then, the FAA's unionized workforce has grown, and pay rules often vary by union and occupation.

The FAA's core compensation system features pay bands, with broad salary ranges, instead of the traditional grade-and-step General Schedule used in most other parts of the government.

In a message to employees, Sturgell said the FAA will raise the top of the pay bands by 2.5 percent, allowing employees in the core compensation system to earn more in the future and ensure the agency remains competitive in the labor market.

Employees at the top of the pay bands had complained about the ceilings, in part because they received their pay increase in a lump sum rather than a raise. Under the system's rules, the lump sum does not count toward retirement credits, a sore point for many employees.

Pay also has been a flashpoint for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union. It objected to an agency decision last year to impose a contract that cut starting salaries for new controllers by 30 percent.

Employees in the core compensation system and most unionized employees are eligible for "superior contribution increases," or pay raises tied to their job performance. In his message yesterday, Sturgell said the highest individual performance raise will be 1.8 percent.

If the FAA follows past practice, no more than 20 percent of the employees will receive the 1.8 percent performance-related raise, and up to 45 percent will receive a 0.6 percent performance raise. That leaves about a third of the employees with just the agency-wide raise and locality pay, while a few employees will not get a raise because of unacceptable job performance.

The start of the year is typically the time when the government announces pay raises.

The Defense Department's new National Security Personnel System, which also features pay bands, on Monday announced a 2.5 percent increase in maximum salaries.

Last week, President Bush issued an executive order that provides an average 3.5 percent pay raise to most federal employees -- a 2.5 percent across-the-board raise and a geographic-based adjustment that varies by locality.

For the Washington-Baltimore region, the raise and locality supplement resulted in a 4.49 percent raise. The administration's salary formula gives higher locality pay to certain metropolitan areas so they can keep pace with private-sector increases or catch up to local market rates.

About 5,000 FAA employees who have not converted to the core compensation system will receive a 2.5 percent raise and a locality adjustment. FAA executives will be eligible for an increase in base pay of 2.5 percent, the same raise being given to other executives in the government, Sturgell wrote.

Details of the pay changes will be posted within the week on the agency's Web site, he said.

"All in all, it's been a challenging but productive year for the agency," Sturgell said in his message to employees. He praised employees for doing "whatever was necessary to keep the [air traffic] system safe -- and after all other factors are taken into account, that's the one that matters the most."

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.