Law Judge Raise Opposed

The Bush administration has said it opposes a bill under, HR-3737, which would raise the pay caps for administrative law judges from the executive schedule level III rate to the level II rate recently approved for senior executive service members. The OPM witness noted that SES members will be able to reach the top level only by being in an agency with performance evaluation measures that meet certain criteria and by being rated as a top performer. In contrast, by law pay for ALJs cannot be linked to performance in order to maintain their independence. However, several members of the House civil service subcommittee voiced their support for the bill despite that view, saying that the government faces a difficult time recruiting ALJs at current salary levels. That problem will soon become worse, they said, since nine-tenths of ALJs already are eligible for retirement and hundreds more will have to be added to oversee disputes arising under last year’s Medicare reform bill.