Any new offers for employment including salary information should reflect the requirements in the final regulations. Image: Waxen/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffOPM has issued guidance to agencies on carrying out newly finalized rules barring them from taking non-federal salaries into consideration when setting initial pay for a newly hired employee or to a former federal employee returning from a break in service, saying agencies must be in “full compliance by October 1, even though the rules have an April 1 effective date.
A memo on chcoc.gov says that OPM recognizes that agencies “may need implementing guidance and additional time to modify their own policies and procedures and provide new instructions to their human resources professionals and hiring managers regarding setting pay and making pay offers in compliance with the final regulations.”
Until October 1, “agencies should take steps to revise their policies and procedures. As soon as practicable, any new offers for employment including salary information for GS, FWS, ALJ, AAJ, SES, SL, and ST positions and new pay-setting decisions for such positions should reflect the requirements in the final regulations.”
Any pay-setting decisions after that “cannot override any collective bargaining agreement in effect prior to the effective date of the regulations. Such collective bargaining agreement would need to come into compliance with the regulations when the agreement is due to be renegotiated or expires,” it adds.
The memo otherwise largely repeats the content of the rules themselves, stating that in addition to a hire’s prior non-federal salaries—which it says “is not necessarily a good indicator of worker value, experience, and expertise, and it also may contain or exacerbate biases”—agencies may not consider the terms of a competing job offer.
However, it notes that in deciding whether to set a starting salary above the applicable rate, agencies remain free to consider factors such as “the success of recent recruitment efforts or significant disparities between federal and non-federal salaries for the skills and competencies required in the position to be filled.”
“The agency must also consider how pay has been set for employees who had similar qualifications (based on the level, type, or quality of the candidate’s skills or competencies or other qualities and experiences) and have been newly appointed to positions that are similar to the candidate’s position (based on the position’s occupational series, grade level, organization, geographic location, or other job-relevant factors), if applicable,” it says.
Key Bills Advancing, but No Path to Avoid Shutdown Apparent
TSP Adds Detail to Upcoming Roth Conversion Feature
White House to Issue Rules on RIF, Disciplinary Policy Changes
DoD Announces Civilian Volunteer Detail in Support of Immigration Enforcement
See also,
How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire
How to Challenge a Federal Reduction in Force (RIF) in 2025
Should I be Shooting for a $1M TSP Balance? Depends…
