US Federal Pay Frozen, except its not

[JerichoHill]

So big news.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45673.html


Obama's frozen the Cost of Living Adjustments that we feds get every year. Federal pay freeze, right?

Not.

A bit of perspective. Last year the CoLA was 2% about. So for a fed making 100K , this is a net tax loss of maybe 2K pretax, 1.4K post-tax, rounded, generalized.

Except, we can still get promoted. Which means most of us will continue to get our yearly promotions contingent on performance ratings being a certain level. These are more of a 4-5K bump up.

So frozen pay? Only if you were in the DoD and got hampered by the NSPS to GS conversion (which is pretty much all of DoD, sorry Mobby and Pat)


On another note:
The pay freeze saves 2 billion this year and 6 billion per year thereafter. Federal deficits are expected to be around 1 trillion a year. So basically, this does squat to solve the deficit / debt issue

 

[bhsup]

You get promotions every year?!

 

[El_Machinae]

Most jobs I've been in involve promotions nearly annually

 

[Cutlass]

Better to do a big increase in pay.

 

[MobBoss]

So frozen pay? Only if you were in the DoD and got hampered by the NSPS to GS conversion (which is pretty much all of DoD, sorry Mobby and Pat)

Uhm. I think thats for DoD civilian employees, not military. Members of the military are not GS wage civilian employees. I havent seen anything to reference any such change in my payscale regarding that. Have seen references to the annual pay raise being smaller than normal, but its still working through congress right now.

 

[bhsup]

Most jobs I've been in involve promotions nearly annually

Annual pay raises I understand. Annual promotions, though? That's insane.

 

[Murky]

Doesn't military get an increase in pay when they earn a new rank?

 

[MobBoss]

Doesn't military get an increase in pay when they earn a new rank?

Yes.

We get annual pay raises each year, usually linked to the commercial growth rate. Historically, they average around 3% or so, but have been as high as 6% to 9% for individual ranks and times.

You also get a time-in-service pay raise every other year of service on your even years on your basic active service date anniversary. For example, I will go over 24 years of service this next February, so will get a pay raise based on that.

http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2010WebPayTable34.pdf

 

[JerichoHill]

You get promotions every year?!

Sort of

The GS system has 10 pay bands at each level. You progress through the bands contingent on performance ratings at a rate of 1 per year for 1-3, 1 every 2 years for 4-6, and every 3 years for the rest. Promotions to a new GS level move you up a level but back 2 or 3 steps. These "through the bands" are similar to the pay increases you get in the private sector. You're not being promoted to a new level.

 

[bhsup]

Ah, okay, well that makes more sense

 

[Karalysia]

Good, I was angry when I first heard the news that he was freezing pay, outraged even. But this is good news.

 

[MobBoss]

@JH: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_pay_freeze

The two-year freeze would apply to all civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense, but would not affect military personnel.

Just like I thought...

So, no 'sorry' for Pat and I apparently..... We're still getting raises!!!

 

[JerichoHill]

Where is the dislike button on here?

 

[Integral]

Wouldn't the COLA be small this year anyway, given that inflation is so low?

Still, your point about the usual promotions is spot on. I mean, a Census or BLS economist/statistician can rise from GS-7 to GS-12 in six or seven years, which is pretty much one full grade per year. The COLA is peanuts in comparison.

 

[JerichoHill]

Yeah Int, CoLa would be 2% or less.

 

[.Shane.]

Welcome to the world the rest of us are living in (in fact its worse)

As you noted, its a drop in the bucket (as earmarks are), but if its part of a larger effort to reduce costs, etc... well, ok. But, if its just so much posturing and nothing of consequence happens, then, yeah, it's a bit ridiculous.

 

[Camikaze]

$2 billion a year is better than nothing. Small improvements to the situation such as this aren't bad, they just don't solve the problem outright.

Just like I thought...

So, no 'sorry' for Pat and I apparently..... We're still getting raises!!!

Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

 

[Bill3000]

Lame.

 

[MobBoss]

Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

Might have something to do with Afghanistan and Iraq...but I am just guessing there.

 

[Camikaze]

Might have something to do with Afghanistan and Iraq...but I am just guessing there.

Are there different pay scales for those on active tour? It's understandable to not freeze the wages of those individuals, but it doesn't really seem like a good reason to not freeze the wages of other non-civilian military personnel.