Most Special Raters to Get General Raise

After the annual review of special rate pay, the Office of Personnel Management has determined that virtually all special rate employees will get the same raise applying to other federal employees. There are now 394 special rate schedules covering some 139,600 employees, excluding about 33,400 law enforcement officers covered by a separate special rate authority. Of the 394 schedules, the general raise will be applied to all but three. In two cases, involving certain firefighters in New Jersey, the increase will be lower to better align the GS-7 special rate range with the special rate ranges for surrounding grades, and in the other, involving certain Veterans Affairs clerical employees at GS-2 through GS-4 in eastern Massachusetts, VA requested that special rates not be increased. Meanwhile, certain general schedule police officers (GS-0083) and law enforcement security officers (LESOs), a specialty position in the GS-0080 occupational series, will be covered by new special salary rate schedules. Ten of the 26 current police officer special rate tables will be modified or terminated because of the new police officer special rates.