Provide Your Comments to Congress on GAO's Human Capital Flexibility by Friday, June 11, 2010
This is an important announcement to all GAO Analysts and Specialists:
Congress mandated in 2004 that GAO report on how GAO has exercised its personnel management flexibility under sections 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10 of the "Human Capital II" Act (GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, PL 108-271).  The Act also directs GAO to provide an opportunity for GAO's employee organizations, such as your GAO Union, to give their comments.

These sections of the 2004 Human Capital II Act, among other things, enabled GAO to offer lump-sum separation payments, independently determine annual pay adjustments (which was later addressed in the GAO Act), and implement its performance management system; the act also required GAO management to consult with GAO employee associations.
 
Therefore, your elected GAO Union representatives need your feedback, so that the Union can communicate the perspectives of GAO Analysts and Specialists directly to Congress. As a GAO Analyst or Specialist, and a member of the bargaining unit--whether you are not yet a GAO Union member, or you are already a GAO Union member--we would like your comments so that the Union can provide an informed position to Congress on behalf of GAO's Analyst and Specialist community.  A further summary of these sections is found at this link.

This is an important opportunity for you to inform the Union's response to Congress about how GAO has used the personnel management flexibility granted in Human Capital II.

We will collect your comments until Friday, June 11, 2010, in order to process them and submit them to Congress.  Please email your comments to us at gaoanalysts@ifpte.org, or contact one of your Union representatives.

Explanation of sections 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10 from the GAO Human Capital II Act (PL 108-271), July 7, 2004.

SEC. 2. PAY SETTING POLICY. Section 2 deletes the requirement that the Comptroller General shall fix the basic pay rates of employees consistent with section 5301 of title 5, which sets forth the principles that guide Congress in fixing Federal pay. This section provides that for the various local pay areas there be substantially equal pay for equal work, pay distinctions be maintained in keeping with work and performance distinctions, and federal pay should equal private pay for the same work. It also provides that disparity between federal pay and private pay should be removed. These policy considerations have been incorporated into the pay adjustment provision below as factors that the Comptroller General shall consider when adjusting the pay rates of GAO employees.

SEC. 3. PAY ADJUSTMENTS. Section 3 enables the Comptroller General to annually adjust the pay rates for officers and employees of GAO without having to adjust the GAO pay rates at the same time and to the same extent as the annual statutory adjustments are made to the General Schedule. This provision enables the Comptroller General to annually adjust the pay rates for GAO officers and employees whose performance is at a satisfactory level after reviewing various factors such as the level of inflation and pay disparities between GAO employees and private sector employees in the local pay areas. SPECIAL NOTE: Section 3 of the 2004 Act has been superseded largely by the GAO Act of 2008, which provides that all GAO employees will receive at least the equivalent of the General Schedule COLA or across the board raise for their locality applied to their permanent salary each year.  The GAO Union worked with Congress to make this correction and ensure the passage of the 2008 legislation.

SEC. 4. PAY RETENTION. Section 4 deletes the requirement that GAO provide grade and pay retention consistent with the statutory provisions in subchapter VI of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code. The passage of this provision will enable employees who are demoted due to a reduction-in-force, other adjustment-in-force, reclassification or other specified reasons as determined by the Comptroller General to be placed immediately in a lower grade or band but their pay would not be reduced if it exceeds the maximum rate of the new band or grade. However, these employees would not be eligible for increases to their basic pay as long as their basic pay is at or exceeds the maximum rate of the band or grade into which they are placed.

SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATES. Section 9 provides that the effective date of the Act will be the date of passage except for sections 2 and 3 that concern annual adjustments to the pay rates for GAO employees. These provisions are effective for any pay adjustments on or after October 1, 2005, and until then, with two exceptions, the existing statutory provisions will be in effect. The first exception gives the Comptroller General the authority to prescribe regulations that would immediately preclude employees who are not performing at a satisfactory level from receiving the annual adjustment to the pay rates, instead of having to wait until section 3 is effective. The second exception authorizes the Comptroller General to prescribe regulations that would enable him to give less than the full amount of the adjustments under existing law, if the agency encounters serious budget constraints or extraordinary economic conditions. However, the Comptroller General may delay the implementation of sections 2 and 3 for groups of employees if he deems this appropriate.

SEC. 10. CONSULTATION WITH OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES. Section 10 requires that before the implementation of any changes under the Human Capital Reform Act, the Comptroller General shall consult with any interested groups or associations representing officers and employees of GAO.