Pay Caps Hitting More in GS

Because of the pay cap that applies to general schedule employees—the executive level IV rate, in 2008 $149,000—about 7,100 GS employees are not receiving the full amount they would be due otherwise under the pay schedules applying in their localities. That’s up from about 800 in 2007, another congressional report says, adding that the major reason for the jump is that the cap is now affecting the Washington-Baltimore locality. The pay cap, which started hitting the highest-paid localities in 2002, now is affecting employees at or near the upper end of the GS-15 step ladder in 12 localities. The report projects that the cap will affect an additional five localities in 2009—meaning it would be hitting senior GS-15 employees in more than half of the 32 GS localities–and in four years, the cap could reach those in the GS-14 grade in some places, starting in the San Francisco locality, the highest-paid locality. "Should that occur, some GS-14 employees, seeing that their pay cannot increase if they are promoted to GS-15, may be unwilling to take on the sometimes significantly greater responsibilities associated with the higher grade" and refuse promotions, the report says.