According to the concept paper, the director of OPM would
establish a Federal Law Enforcement Pay and Retirement Council
consisting of an official from OPM, one from Justice,
managers, employees, and one official each from DHS and DoD.
They would work to establish a basic pay framework consistent
with the system’s classification system – and
performance-based pay would be linked to ratings based on
work quality.
The committees proposed four occupational groups –
entry-developmental, full performance, senior expert, and
supervisory, which would include activities such as hiring or
selecting employees, assigning work, managing performance,
and other associated duties.
President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen
M. Kelley, said creating a system through administrative
regulation rather than statute “raises serious concerns.”
Kelley said putting the rules into statute would make them
more reliable, thereby helping agencies recruit and retain
qualified workers.
“Giving OPM the right to alter the federal law enforcement
officer basic pay, premium pay and retirement systems by
regulatory fiat is a bad idea,” she added. Presumably, each
new OPM director would be able to change key features of the
system covering all LEOs.
