Q. In calculating a retiree’s high-3, do personnel consider the pay rate I should be receiving or the pay rate I am actually receiving? Under this pay freeze, I am a FS-01 Step 5, but I am being paid at the FS-01 Step 3 level. If I retired this year, would my annuity be calculated using the pay I should be receiving (at the Step 5 level) or usingthe pay I’m actually receiving (at the Step 3 level)?
Browsing: Pay freeze
Q. My department is pushing “time-off awards,” probably as a way of adding compensation during the pay freeze. Are hours accrued through time off awards paid to the employee if unused at the time of retirement? A. No. According to the Office of Personnel Management, “The ‘currency’ of a time-off award is time, not money. Agencies have the authority to grant cash awards when they feel that is the appropriate form of recognition or incentive.”
Q: I just heard the news about the freezing of federal employees’ pay rates. Does this also mean that we will not receive within-grade increases that are due to us in the next two years? A: Because a pay freeze is a proposal and not a fact (the Congress would have to pass legislation to make it happen), it’s far too early to say what would happen to within-grade increases.