a. Project Legislation: The Project legislative authorities for the pay administration system are Sections 10(b)(1), (2), (5), and (6), and 10(c)(4) and (6).
- Section 10(b)(1) requires that the basic pay for a position be within the minimum and maximum rates of the pay band in which the position is placed.
- Section 10(b)(2) requires that the minimum and maximum rates of each pay band be adjusted by the amount of the Director's comparability decision.
- Section 10(b)(5)(A) requires that the basic pay of each "participating" employee be reviewed and adjusted annually on the basis of performance.
- Section 10(b)(5)(B) requires that all employees rated at least "fully successful" [Contributor] receive at least the annual comparability increase.
- Section (10)(b)(6) requires that "Appropriate supervisory and managerial pay differentials (which shall be considered a part of basic pay) shall be provided."
- Section 10(c)(4)(A)(i) places a ceiling on an employee's basic pay of level IV of the Executive Schedule.
- Section 10(c)(4)(A)(ii) places a ceiling on the fiscal year aggregate of an employee's basic pay, bonuses, and allowances of Level I of the Executive Schedule.
- Sections 10(c)(4)(B)(i) and (ii) require that any amount not paid in a fiscal year because of the aggregate ceiling be paid in a lump sum at the beginning of the following fiscal year, and that this amount count toward the aggregate of that fiscal year.
- Sections 10(c)(6)(A) and (B) allow an employee's position to be placed in the next lower pay band when the annual comparability increase raises the minimum rate of the employee's current pay band above the employee's basic pay, and provide that this action is not "a reduction in grade or pay for purposes of subchapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, or a comparable provision under the Project." Additionally, Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Chapter 530, 531, 536, 550, and, 551 as appropriate and Department of Commerce (DoC) Administrative Orders 202-550, 551,536, and 550 as appropriate also covers pay issues.
b. Coverage: The Project pay administration system applies to all positions covered by the Project, except:
- Senior Executive Service (SES) positions, and
- 5 U.S.C. 3104 (ST) positions.
c . Objective: The objective is to establish a pay system that will improve the ability of NIST to attract and retain quality employees.
d. Delegation of Authority: The authority to set pay is delegated to supervisors of NIST, within the delegations issued by each OU Director and by this document.
a. Eligibility: Employees must receive an Exceptional Contributor, Superior Contributor or a Significant Contributor performance rating at the end of the appraisal cycle to receive a performance pay increase.
b. Amount: Performance pay increase amounts are based on the I% selected by the NIST Director.
The I% selected by the NIST Director will be multiplied by each pay band mid-point salary to determine a dollar amount for ‘I'. (See Performance Management section.)
The performance pay increases are based upon multiples of the dollar amount for one (1) increment of ‘I'. An Exceptional Contibutor will receive 5 x I; a Superior Contributor will receive 3 x I; and a Significant Contributor will receive 1 x I.
c. Effective: Performance pay increases are effective the third full pay period in the new fiscal year and are paid to the employee the fourth full pay period in the new fiscal year.
a. New Appointments:
- Initial salaries for new appointees may be set at any point within the pay band.
- Pay setting criteria include salary comparability, special salary rates, special qualification requirements, turnover rates, scarcity of qualified applicants, or programmatic urgency.
- The minimum starting salary rate for positions in Pay Band I of the ZP and ZA career paths is not less than the rate of GS-5, step 1, except for students and Co-ops.
- The minimum starting salary rate for special salary rate occupations must be at least the minimum special salary rate of the lowest grade in the pay band to which appointed.
- When promoting a special salary rate employee, the promotion salary must be at least the minimum special salary rate of the lowest grade in the pay band to which promoted.
- Policies regarding pay setting for employees appointed under the National Research Council (NRC) Post Doctoral Research Associateships are found in Chapter 10.22 of the NIST Administration Manual.
b. Pay Adjustments: Adjustments to base pay within the pay band may be made under the following circumstances:
- Movement of an employee from one position to another position within the same career path and pay band as result of a competitive selection for a vacancy;
- Granting a pay increase as a result of a competitive selection for a vacancy that is within the same career path and pay band;
- Granting of the annual comparability increase by the NIST Director;
- Granting of the locality increase by the President;
- Granting of supervisory differential;
- Removal of supervisory differential;
- Granting of pay adjustments to employees under Student (STEP, SCEP) or Faculty appointments upon completion of another academic school year or another year of teaching in lieu of the annual performance increase;
- Granting of a performance pay increase.
c. Conversion Actions: Management may adjust pay upon conversion to permanent appointments. A Conversion action from a temporary or excepted appointment to another temporary or excepted appointment may include an increase in pay only if the conversion action is to a higher pay band.
d. Promotions: The minimum basic pay increase accompanying a promotion to a higher pay band is 6 percent (see definition under Staffing). This minimum does not include the additional increase of a supervisory differential which is given upon entry into a ZP supervisory position (3% increase) or a ZP Division Chief position (6% increase).
e. Change to Lower Pay Band: (The personnel action is processed as a change to Lower Grade)
- Automatic - Loss of Comparability Increase:
An employee whose performance rating is Marginal Contributor or Unsatisfactory will not receive the annual comparability or the locality increase or a performance increase. Because the minimum pay rate for each pay band will be increased each year by at least the amount of the comparability increase and any locality increase, it is possible that the new minimum rate of a pay band will exceed the basic pay of an employee who did not receive the comparability increase or the locality increase, although there is no actual reduction in pay. As a result, the employee will automatically be placed in the next lower pay band with a pay range commensurate with the employee's basic pay. It is not an adverse action and there is no right of appeal. The nature of action is 713, Change to Lower Grade. The legal authority is USM P.L. 99-574 10(c)(6) and N2M/Reg 335.102.
- Voluntary - Request of Employee:
A voluntary change to lower pay band occurs at the request of the employee. Pay is set based on NIST highest previous rate policy. This policy states that current or former Federal employees selected for positions must be paid their highest previous rate unless the OU Director approves a justification to not grant the highest previous rate.
- Involuntary - Performance or Conduct:
An employee who is changed to a lower pay band based on a performance or conduct decision will be placed in the lower pay band and pay will be set within the pay range of that pay band, based on the pay band and pay decisions contained in the performance or conduct decision letter. Appropriate notification procedures and appeal rights apply to the decision to place the employee in a lower pay band.
f. Change to Lower Interval: As in e(l) above, the base pay of an employee who because of a Marginal Contributor or Unsatisfactory rating does not receive a comparability increase or locality pay may fall into a lower pay interval within the pay band, although no actual reduction in pay takes place. The nature of action is 899, Step Change. The legal authority is ZSV/Sec 10(b)(5), P.L. 99-574. This is not an Adverse Action and there is no right of appeal.
g. Pay Ceilings:
- The maximum rate of basic pay authorized in Public Law 99-574 is the rate payable for Level IV of the Executive Schedule.
- The maximum amount any employee may receive in basic pay, bonuses, and allowances in a fiscal year is the rate payable for Level I of the Executive Schedule.
- Basic pay for non-supervisory positions is limited to the maximum rate of Interval 3 of the pay band.
- Basic pay for supervisory positions is limited to the maximum rate of Interval 5 of the pay band, with the following exception:
The basic pay for supervisors who are non-division chiefs in ZA & ZP Pay Band 5 is limited to the maximum rate of Interval 4 (division chiefs may be paid up to the maximum rate of Interval 5).
- The minimum and maximum rates of pay bands and the maximum rates of pay band intervals are adjusted by the percentage comparability increase granted in January, by applicable special rate changes and/or by locality rate changes.
h. Special Salary Rates: The salaries of employees in OPM special rate occupations are not changed by an increase, decrease, or elimination of OPM's special rates, but NIST has the option to change the minimum and maximum pay band rates to reflect the change in the special rates.
i. Highest Previous Rate: It is the NIST policy to apply the highest previous rate provision. This policy states that current or former Federal employees selected for positions must be paid a minimum of their highest previous salary rate unless appropriate justification is approved by the Chief, Office of Personnel and Civil Rights. For further information contact the servicing Personnel Specialist.
j. Cap of Pay Band: Salary increases are capped at interval 3 of the pay band except for supervisors who may exceed their pay band through performance pay increases (see section 6). ZA and ZP pay band V supervisors are capped at pay interval 4 and ZA and ZP non-SES Division Chiefs are capped at interval 5. All other supervisors in pay bands I through IV can achieve interval 5 through performance.
k. Pay Comparability:
- The APMS authorizes a total compensation comparability system. All positions covered by the APMS are also covered by annual appraisal comparability system and locality pay system. The objectives of the annual appraisal comparability system and locality pay system are to determine the overall difference between compensation for NIST positions and compensation for private sector positions.
- The percentage of annual comparability increase authorized by the Director will apply to the minimum and maximum rates of pay for each pay band.
- The basic pay of each employee who receives an Contributor or higher rating will be increased by the percentage of annual comparability increase authorized by the Director and locality pay if authorized. An employee receiving a Marginal Contributor or Unsatisfactory rating will not receive an annual comparability increase or a locality pay increase in basic pay.
l. Pay and Compensation Ceilings:
- The ceiling of each pay band is the highest rate payable for a position within that pay band, whether a regular or special General Schedule rate, except for supervisory positions (see Section 6). Pay band ceilings will be adjusted in succeeding years by the amount of the Annual Comparability Increase and Locality Pay Salary rate adjustments if appropriate.
- The maximum rate of basic pay authorized in Public Law 99-574 is the rate payable for Level IV of the Executive Schedule. The PMB, however, has limited payable pay to interval 5.
- The maximum amount any employee may receive in basic pay, bonuses, and allowances in a fiscal year is the rate payable for Level I of the Executive Schedule.
The APMS legislation provides that "appropriate supervisory and managerial pay differentials (which shall be considered a part of basic pay) shall be provided."
- There are two types of Supervisory Pay Differentials.
(a) Initial Pay Increase for ZP Career Path Supervisors:
- New supervisors in the Scientific and Engineering (ZP) Career Path may be eligible for an immediate increase in base pay as a supervisory differential.
- Eligible employees are ZP supervisors who supervise at least three permanent employees in the ZP Career Path (not including temporary, student, and employees on WAE tours of duty).
- The amount of the differential is 3 percent of base pay for ZP supervisors below division chief and 6 percent of base pay for ZP division chiefs. The base pay of ZA & ZP pay band V supervisors below division chief is limited to interval 4 of Pay Band V and the base pay of ZA & ZP Pay Band V division chiefs is limited to interval 5 of Pay Band V.
- The base pay for newly hired or newly promoted supervisors in the ZP Career Path may be set according to flexible pay-setting, but is assumed to include the appropriate supervisory differential. The base pay of ZP supervisors below division chief must be at least 3 percent above the minimum rate of the pay band, and the base pay of division chiefs must be at least 6 percent above the minimum rate of the pay band.
(b) Supervisory Pay Intervals for all Career Paths:
- Supervisors in all career paths may be eligible for an increase into the supervisory intervals (intervals 4 and/or 5 of each pay band).
- Eligible employees are supervisors in all career paths with at least three subordinates (not including temporary, student, and employees on WAE tours of duty).
- The supervisory pay ceiling of each supervisory pay band is interval 5, except for Pay Band V of the ZP and ZA Career Path. For Pay Band V, the ceiling for ZP and ZA division chiefs is interval 5, the ceiling for all other ZP & ZA supervisors is interval 4.
Intervals: Interval 3 is the highest interval in a pay band for non-supervisors. The maximum rate of interval 4 is calculated by adding 3 percent to the maximum rate of interval 3. The maximum rate of interval 5 is calculated by adding 3 percent to the maximum rate of interval 4.
- Statement by Employee: All personnel actions involving placement in a supervisory position require the following statement signed by the employee:
“I understand that the supervisory differential will be terminated at the time I leave or am reassigned from this supervisory position and, upon reassignment, my pay will not exceed the cap of interval 3 of the non-supervisory pay band.”
- Pay setting procedures upon movement out of a Supervisory Position: All personnel actions involving a reassignment from a supervisory to a non-supervisory position require a memorandum to be sent to the employee by the supervisor. (See sample letter.)
Employees on Student or Faculty appointments may be given pay adjustments to base pay at the completion of each academic school year or each additional year of teaching or research. They are rated if they have worked 120 days in the performance cycle; however, they are not eligible to receive a pay for performance increase or performance bonus.
To determine the representative rate of a pay band for APMS employees subtract the lowest rate of the band from the highest rate of the band. Calculate 40% of this difference. Add the 40% determination to the lowest rate of the pay band. This figure is the representative rate of the pay band.
EXAMPLE: Representative rate of ZS-III a. From Highest Rate:
Subtract Lowest Rate:
Difference:
$24,840.00
$16,305.00
$ 8,535.00b. Take 40% of difference ($8,535.00)
c. Add the 40% figure to the lowest rate:
$16,305.00
+ 3,414.00
$19,719.00
d. Representative Rate: