Is your boss worth $76 an hour?

If you are struggling to get by on $158,700 per year, odds are you won’t make the sob story segment of the nightly news! Or as a basket case on Dr. Phil.

An hourly pay rate of just over $76 is a lot more than most American workers get. (Unless they are CEOs, entertainers, sports stars or TV anchors who specialize in appearing to identify with the masses). Up to a point!

Currently, the top civil service GS (general schedule) salary, in most cases, is $158,700. (Members of the Senior Executive Service are paid an average of $165,890, with the top capped at $183,300). And it might not be quite so outrageous when you consider what a lot of people at that level do for a living. Many manage multi-million (if not billion) dollar programs. Agencies and systems designed to keep the U.S. food and water supply safe, our borders secure and to fend off, or eliminate, potentially catastrophic terrorist threats. Often under attack from politicians who are, uh, less than supportive.

The bipartisan 1990 Federal Pay Act (FEPCA for short) promised feds a series of catchup raises over a dozen-year period. They were supposed to be automatic, noncontroversial and to bring federal pay to that in the private sector. On a city-by-city (or locality) pay basis. It flopped. President Bill Clinton opposed and ignored it. President George W. Bush followed suit. Feds got 3-year pay freeze under the current administration. The “cap” that sits atop the federal pay totem pole didn’t move. As a result, hundreds, maybe thousands of top-level feds aren’t being paid what the law says they should be getting. In San Francisco-San Jose feds in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th step of GS 15 receive the same salary: $158,700. The cap extends to the eighth step in Los Angeles, and the Washington-Baltimore metro area, and to the seventh longevity step in Houston.

Yesterday’s column talked about a proposed extension of the locality pay system. Lots of readers commented. Some pointed out that the real problem is the pay cap. Here’s part of what one had to say on the subject:

Because of pay compression caused by the cap “in 19 of the 33 currently approved locality pay areas, GS employees do not even receive the full benefit of cost-of-living pay raises. Some are about $20K below where they should be in compensation if the pay cap did not exist. The GS Pay Cap linkage to Level IV of the Executive Schedule needs to be adjusted or eliminated. One remedy would be to update the GS linkage to Level II of the Executive Schedule, another remedy would be to drop the Pay Cap restriction entirely.”

Unfortunately, the kind of pay reform recommended by the reader isn’t what’s on the agenda of most politicians. While issuing press releases about bloated, overpaid bureaucrats, they forget about some of their hidden, or taken-for-granted perks. Some members of the House continue live and sleep in their congressional offices. And they don’t have to pay for maid service. Or parking. And a couple of very nice gyms too. And free parking at at least two of our three airports while the ponder ways to make government more efficient and less costly.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Michael O’Connell

Film Director Alfred Hitchcock was a supporter of the West Ham Football Club and subscribed to British newspapers to keep track of the scores.

Source: IMDB

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