PROPOSED AGENCY RESPONSE TO OMB REQUEST FOR VIEWS RE OPM DRAFT BILL CONCERNING SPECIAL RATES OF PAY FOR CERTAIN FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00338R000400530013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 28, 2008
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: June 22, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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OLL 84-2039/1
124 May 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR: DD/PERS/SP
/C/ALD/OGC
FROM:
Legislation Division
Office of Legislative Liaison,
SUBJECT: OPM Draft Bill to Establish Special Rates of
Pay for Certain Federal Employees
1. Attached for your review and comment is an Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) draft bill to expand the authority
to establish special pay rates for certain Federal employees.
The Office of Management and Budget has requested the views of
our Agency on this draft bill by 13 June 1984.
2. This OPM draft bill would amend 5 U.S.C. ?5303 to
expand current special pay rate authority for employees paid
under the General Schedule, and other statutory-pay schedules.
At present, special pay rates may be used only when the
recruitment or retention problem is attributable to higher pay
in the private sector. Under the.OPM amendment, special pay
rates could be used when he staffing problem is attributable
to such factors as the undesirable geographic location or
working conditions of a job. The OPM amendment also would
permit special rates of up to 60 percent above the minimum rate
of the regular rate range. Under current law, the Special pay
rates are limited to 30 percent above the regular rate range.
3. While the Agency is not covered by the statutory pay
schedules amended by the OPM draft bill and consequently would
not benefit directly from this proposal, the OPM draft bill is
helpful nonetheless because it recognizes the difficulty of
recruiting and retaining employees based on undesirable
geographic location and/or working conditions. Consequently,
I believe that the Agency should state its support for the OPM
draft bill. In so doing, the Agency should also emphasize that
the rationale for the OPM draft bill applies with equal, if not
greater, force to recruitment and retention at the CIA. I have
attached for your review a first draft of a letter making this
point.
4. Please review the attached OPM draft bill and draft
Agency response and provide me with your comments.
STAT
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0 Central Intelligence Agency ?
Mr. James M. Frey
Assistant Director for Legislative Reference
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Mr. Frey:
This is in response to your request for the views of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on an Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) draft bill to amend the authority to establish
special rates of pay for certain Federal employees. The
Central Intelligence Agency supports the purpose of this draft
bill.
The OPM bill would amend 5 U.S.C. ?5303 to expand the
current special pay rate,authority to permit the use of this
authority when staffing problems are attributable not only to
higher private sector pay but also to the undesirable
geographic location and/or working conditions of a job. The
OPM amendment would also increase the permissible range of
special pay rates to a maximum of 60 percent of the regular
rate range.
Although the CIA is not covered by the special pay
authority amended by the OPM draft bill and consequently would
not directly benefit from its enactment, the CIA supports the
purpose of this bill. This bill recognizes that undesirable
geographic location or working conditions of a job can hinder
the recruitment and retention of personnel. Indeed, CIA
believes that these, and related, factors play an even more
significant role in recruitment and retention of the young,
highly motivated, top-quality personnel needed at the CIA.
While this legislation does not redress CIA's needs in this
area, it is gratifying, nonetheless, to see legislation of this
type.
We appreciate the opportunity to comment upon this draft
legislation.
Sincerely,
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? United States ?
Office of
Personnel Management Washington, D.C. 20415
"fly I I
Honorable David A. Stockman
Director
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Mr. Stockman:
The Office of Personnel Management has prepared the enclosed legislative
proposal, "To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand the authority
to establish special rates of pay for certain Federal employees, and for
other purposes."
This proposal would broaden the current authority for, special rates of pay
when the Government experiences difficulty in recruiting or retaining
well-qualified employees due to higher pay rates in private enterprise.
The proposal would allow such special rates in a greater variety of cir-
cumstances and would increa?e the available rate range for such special
rates when necessary.
We request your advice as to whether there would be any objection from the
standpoint of the Administration's program to the submission of this pro-
posal to the Congress.
C-
Donald J. Devine
Director
CON 1144.3
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United States
`i Office of
JJ Personnel Management Washington, D.C. 20415
honorable George Bush
President of the Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Office of Personnel Management submits herewith a legislative proposal,
"To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand the authority to-establish
special rates of pay for certain Federal employees, and for other purposes."
This proposal would broaden the current authority in section 5303 of title 5,
United States Code, for setting special rates of pay to resolve recruitment or
retention problems for employees paid under the General Schedule and certain
other white-collar pay systems.
'The current special pay rate authority is too limited in the circumstances
in which special pay rates may be authorized, and too restrictive in the
amount above the regular rates that the special rates may be set. Owing
to these limits, the Government has sometimes been unable to adequately
address significant recruitment and retention problems for much-needed
occupations.
The current authority may be used only when the recruitment or retention
problem is attributable to higher pay in the private sector for the job
in question. However, many significant staffing problems .are caused not
by pay but by such factors as the geographic location or working condi-
tions of the jobs involved. The proposal would allow special rates to be
established in any situation where they are needed and proper to resolve
a significant staffing problem. Under the revised authority, OPM would
still have to review and approve individual requests from Federal agencies
for special rates, and would continue to require that the agencies have
made an adequate effort to recruit well-qualified candidates and have
given adequate attention to working conditions and other factors that may
be harming recruitment or retention.
The proposal would also expand the pay setting flexibility of the current
law by making available a wider range of permissible rates for special
rates situations. Under current law, special rates can only exceed the
regular General Schedule rates by 30 percent. Under the proposal,
special rates could go as much as 60 percent above the regular rates if
necessary to deal with a particularly severe recruitment or retention
problem.
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CON 114-24-3
Jsnw?~ '9!O
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Honorable George Bush
Expansion of the current special rate authority in these respects viii
enable the Government to be more responsive to the wide variety of staff-
ing problems, and more flexible in setting needed special pay rates. The
Office of Personnel Management believes that enactment of this proposal
would better equip the Government to recruit and retain well-qualifed
employees in especially hard-to-fill and much-needed occupations.
The Office of Management and Budget advises that, from the standpoint of
the Administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of
this proposal.
A similar letter is being sent to the Speaker of the House of Represen-
tatives.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Devine
Director
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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND JUSTIFICATION
To accompany a draft bill
"To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand the authority to establish
special rates of pay for certain Federal employees, and for other
purposes."
This proposal would broaden the current authority to establish special rates
of pay when necessary to resolve recruitment or retention problems for
employees paid under the General Schedule or certain other white-collar pay
systems.
The current special pay rate authority is too limited in the circumstances in
which special pay rates may be authorized, and is also too restrictive in the
amount above the regular rates that the special rates may be fixed. Owing to
these limits, the Government has sometimes been unable to adequately address
very significant recruitment and retention problems. The proposal would
expand the authority in both of these respects, in order to make It more
responsive to the variety of staffing problems, and more flexible in setting
needed pay rates.
The current authority may be used only when the recruitment or retention
problem is attributable to higher pay in the private sector. However, many
significant Federal staffing problems are not caused by higher pay of private
sector employees but by the geographic location or working conditions of the
job involved.
Under the revision, special rates would be able to be authorized in any
situation in which they are needed and proper to remedy a significant
recruitment or retention problem, not only in instances where private
sector pay competition is the cause of the staffing problem. Thus, the
revised authority could be applied where the staffing problem is attribut-
able to such factors as the relatively undesirable location or working
conditions of the job. OPM would still have to review. and:approve individ-
ual requests for special rates and would continue to require that the
agency have made an adequate effort to recruit well-qualified candidates
and have given adequate attention to working conditions and other factors
that affect recruitment or retention. As is now the case, OPM would care-
fully limit the special rates approved to occupations and areas where their
use is absolutely necessary.
Currently, the special pay rate authority allows the minimum of the
special rate range to be fixed no higher than the maximum rate (step 10)
of the regular rate range. In effect, this allows the special rates to
be fixed no more than 30 percent above the the regular rates. For some
especially hard-to-fill occupations and in some geographic areas, the
current special pay rate flexibility is not great enough to allow the
Government to effectively recruit and retain well-qualified employees.
The proposal would expand the special rate authority to make available an
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additional width of the rate range for necessary special rates. Thus, the
minimum rate of the special rate range could be fixed no higher than about
60 percent above the minimum rate of the regular rate range. Of course,
this expanded flexibility would be used only to the extent necessary.
With these changes, the Government will be much better equipped to recruit
and retain well-qualified employees in especially hard-to-fill and much-
needed occupations.
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0 A BILL ?
To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand the authority to
establish special rates of pay for certain Federal employees,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 5303 of title 5,
United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by striking out "pay rates in private enterprise for one or
more occupations in one or more areas or locations are so substantially
above the pay rates of statutory pay schedules as to handicap signifi-
cantly the";
(B) by inserting before the word "he" the following, "is signif-
icantly handicapped,";
(C) by striking out "for the areas" and inserting in lieu thereof
, as appropriate, for one or
more areasM;
(D) by inserting after "level" at the end of the second sentence
the following: "by more than the amount by which that maximum rate of
pay exceeds the minimum rate of pay for that grade or level"; and
(2) by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
"(e) No rate of basic pay established under this section may exceed
the rate of basic pay that is payable for level II of the Executive
Schedule.".
(b) Section 5308 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking
out "Pay" and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "Except as provided
by section 5303 of this title, pay".
(c) Section 5373 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by striking out "or" after paragraph (3);
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(2) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (4) and
inserting in lieu thereof "; or"; and
(3) by adding after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph:
"(5) section 5303 of this title.".
Sec 2. The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date
of enactment of this Act.
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To accompany a draft bill
"To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand the authority
to establish special rates of pay for certain Federal
employees, and for other purposes."
The first section of the bill consists of amendments to title 5, United
States Code.
Subsection (a) amends section 5303 of title 5, United States Code, which
allows the President to establish special rates of pay for certain white-
collar Federal employees when private sector pay for an occupation is so
substantially above the Government's pay rates that the Government's
recruitment or retention of well-qualified individuals in the occupation
is significantly handicapped. The revision broadens the authority to
allow special rates where the cause of the significant recruitment or
retention problem is other than pay differences, so that, for example,
such causative factors as working conditions and geographic location
could be considered. In addition, the amendments increase the pay range
available for fixing needed special rates. The current authority limits
the special rate minimum to no more than the maximum, step 10, of the
regular rate range. The revision provides an additional width of the rate
range, so that the special rate minimum may exceed regular step 10 by as
much as that step exceeds regular step 1. A new subsection is also added
to section 5303 to limit any-special rate authorized to not more than the
rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule.
Subsection (b) amends section 5308 of title 5 to conform with the new
provision limiting special rates to the rate for level II of the Executive
Schedule.
Subsection (c) amends section 5373 of title 5, United States Code, concern-
ing the limitation on pay fixed by administrative action, to-conform with
the new provision limiting special rates to the rate for level II of the
Executive Schedule.
Section 2 provides that the amendments made by this Act shall take effect
upon enactment.
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