Unintended Consequences Department

One step already taken to address pay issues in the IT sector is starting to have unintended consequences, according to some employees in that category. Certain IT employees up to GS-12 last year were made eligible for special rate pay that in some cases boosted their salaries by a third or more. Now some of them are getting promotions to the GS-13 level, which doesn’t have special rates-but because of policy that states that anyone promoted cannot suffer a decrease in salary, they effectively are getting to keep their special rate pay as GS-13s. That has spurred complaints from IT GS-13s who reached that level before the IT special rate pay kicked in; they point out that they are receiving lower salaries simply because of the timing of their promotions. The Office of Personnel Management has said it is aware of the issue but it is unclear what can or will be done about it.