New salary-setting procedures for employees in senior level and senior scientific and technical positions went into effect as of Monday (April 12), under provisions of a law passed last year. The law in general made pay for those positions parallel that for senior executives, but switching to a pay band whose lowest level (currently $117,878) is set at a percentage of a rate in the base GS table and whose top level depends on whether the agency has a performance appraisal system certified by OPM as making meaningful distinctions—executive level II (currently $177,000) if the system is certified and executive level III (currently $162,900) if it isn’t. SL and ST employees no longer are eligible for locality pay; OPM has sent guidance to agencies on the conversion process, which states that employees will continue at their current total salaries, including locality pay under past raises, subject to the pay caps.