According to the report, the new SES pay system could
change the concept of rank in person for the SES – the
principle that rank resides in the individual.
The final rules for the new pay system say that rank is
based on “the nature and quality of the individual’s
experience, qualifications, and accomplishments as they
are related to the requirements of the SES position, as
well as the individual’s current responsibilities,”
consistent with the concept of rank in person.
However, another excerpt of the final rule says that
under the new system, a pay adjustment is permitted
“when an increase in pay is necessary to reassign a
senior executive to a position with substantially greater
scope and responsibility or to recruit a senior executive
with superior leadership or other competencies from a
position in another agency,” or the retention of the SES
is critical, but the individual would otherwise leave
without an increase in pay.
The report noted that while the principle of rank in
person may have been eroded through years of pay
compression, the rule issued by OPM in December of 2004
could validate the linkage between the level of
responsibility of a position and pay, rather than the
concept of rank in person.