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Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems rule (2024)
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The Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems rule is a significant rule issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management effective April 1, 2024, that modified rules governing federal agency criteria for making salary determinations.[1]
Timeline
The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:
- October 1, 2024: Deadline for agency compliance.[1]
- April 1, 2024: Final rule took effect.[1]
- January 30, 2024: Final rule published.[1]
- June 12, 2023: Comment period closed.[1]
- May 11, 2023: Proposed rule issued and comment period opened.[1]
Background
President Joe Biden (D) signed Executive Order (E.O.) 14035 in June 2021, titled “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce," that aimed to address what the rule called pay inequities and advance equal pay in the federal workforce, according to the text of the Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems rule. Section 12 of E.O. 14035 instructed the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to review regulations and potentially prohibit the use of an applicant's salary history when determining pay for federal employees. Accordingly, OPM issued the Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems rule.[1]
Summary of the rule
The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
| “ | The Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations governing the criteria for making salary determinations based on salary history to advance pay equity in the General Schedule, prevailing rate, Administrative Appeals Judge, Administrative Law Judge, Senior Executive Service, and senior-level and scientific or professional pay systems. For individuals receiving their first appointment as a civilian employee of the Federal Government (or a reappointment after a break in service) in one of these pay systems, agencies will not be able to set pay based on a job candidate's non-Federal salary or pay history, which could vary between equally qualified candidates, or based on a competing job offer. Agencies will also be required to have policies regarding setting pay based on a previous Federal salary for employees who have previous civilian service in the Federal Government.[2] | ” |
Summary of provisions
The following is a summary of the provisions from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
| “ |
This final rule prohibits agencies from considering a candidate's salary history as a factor in setting pay for new Federal civilian employees. If an agency seeks to set pay above the minimum rate of the applicable rate range under the GS, prevailing rate, AAJ, or ALJ pay systems, that adjustment must be based on factors other than a candidate's non-Federal pay history, such as how pay has been set for employees who had similar qualifications (based on the level, type, or quality of the candidate's skills or competencies or other qualities and experiences) and have been newly appointed to positions that are similar to the candidate's position (based on the position's occupational series, grade level, organization, geographic location, or other job-relevant factors), if applicable. Similarly, when setting pay under the SES or SL/ST pay systems, the agency must base the pay on enumerated factors and cannot consider a candidate's non-Federal pay history. When setting pay based on prior Federal salary for reappointed or current employees, agencies must have a policy that supports consistency in setting pay for employees.[2] |
” |
Significant impact
- See also: Significant regulatory action
Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine which agency rules qualify as significant rules and thus are subject to OMB review.
Significant rules have had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. Executive Order 12866 further defined an economically significant rule as a significant rule with an associated economic impact of $100 million or more. Executive Order 14094, issued by President Joe Biden (D) on April 6, 2023, made changes to Executive Order 12866, including referring to economically significant rules as section 3(f)(1) significant rules and raising the monetary threshold for economic significance to $200 million or more.[1]
The text of the Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems rule states that OMB deemed this rule economically significant under E.O. 12866:
| “ | This rule is considered a “significant regulatory action” under section 3(f) of Executive Order (12866).[2] | ” |
Text of the rule
The full text of the rule is available below:[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Federal Register, "Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems," March 14, 2024. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "rule" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
