One Percent Raise All but Certain

As expected, President Obama has issued a notice of his intent to set a 1 percent federal employee raise in January if no different figure is enacted into law by the end of the year. The situation is playing out as a repeat of last year’s process, in which Obama similarly recommended a 1 percent increase in his annual budget proposal and Congress remained silent regarding a raise in the appropriations process. Also like last year, the raise would be paid across the board with no part broken out to be paid in differing amounts as locality pay. While action on a raise figure remains possible until Congress goes out of session for the year—which likely won’t happen until mid-December—there has been no indication of any intent to do other than allow Obama’s proposal for a 1 percent raise to take effect by default. Assuming that happens, the raise would be finalized in a late-year executive order and would be effective at the start of the first full pay period of 2015—in most cases, January 11. Both the House and Senate versions of the key spending bill specify, though, that if a raise is paid, Executive Schedule rates that are used as pay caps for higher-level career employees would increase but the political appointees paid under that system would have their pay still frozen, as it has been since 2010. Congressional pay also has been frozen in that time and that policy would continue as well, under a spending bill covering legislative operations. Obama’s order meanwhile effectively closes the door on a proposal, backed by federal unions and some Democrats in Congress, to set the raise at 3.3 percent.