Case Doesn’t Yield Windfall

Some current and former special raters have been expressing disappointment about the size of the awards they stand to receive while others are even more disappointed that they were left out entirely. The special rates back pay case relates to pay practices in fiscal 1982-1988 for employees in that category, who get higher pay for being in in-demand occupations and locations. Not everyone who was in that category during that period stands to benefit, however-only those employees who had raises improperly capped or denied during that period are affected. That comes to about 129,000 out of the larger pool of about 212,000. For those covered by the award, the amount depends on the raises that were granted or denied to that individual during that period, how many years those policies affected an individual and the person’s rate of pay. Even with interest applied, the net result is that awards going to some individuals are only in the range of several hundred dollars-far from the financial windfall that many special raters were anticipating after the two decades the case wound through the federal courts. On the other hand, in a small number of cases the awards reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.