5 U.S.C.
§ 5335. Periodic step-increases
- (a) An employee paid on an annual basis, and occupying a permanent
position within the scope of the General Schedule, who has not reached the
maximum rate of pay for the grade in which his position is placed, shall be
advanced in pay successively to the next higher rate within the grade at the
beginning of the next pay period following the completion of -
- (1) each 52 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 1, 2, and 3;
- (2) each 104 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 4, 5, and 6; or
- (3) each 156 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 7, 8, and 9; subject
to the following conditions:
- (A) the employee did not receive an equivalent increase in pay from any
cause during that period; and
- (B) the work of the employee is of an acceptable level of competence as
determined by the head of the agency.
- (b) Under regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management,
the benefit of successive step-increases shall be preserved for employees whose
continuous service is interrupted in the public interest by service with the
armed forces or by service in essential non-Government civilian employment
during a period of war or national emergency.
- (c) When a determination is made under subsection (a) of this section that
the work of an employee is not of an acceptable level of competence, the
employee is entitled to prompt written notice of that determination and an
opportunity for reconsideration of the determination within his agency under
uniform procedures prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management. If the
determination is affirmed on reconsideration, the employee is entitled to appeal
to the Merit Systems Protection Board. If the reconsideration or appeal results
in a reversal of the earlier determination, the new determination supersedes the
earlier determination and is deemed to have been made as of the date of the
earlier determination. The authority of the Office to prescribe procedures and
the entitlement of the employee to appeal to the Board do not apply to a
determination of acceptable level of competence made by the Librarian of
Congress.
- (d) An increase in pay granted by statute is not an equivalent increase in
pay within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section.
- (e) This section does not apply to the pay of an individual covered by the
performance management and recognition system established under chapter 54 of
this title, or, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate.
- (f) Notwithstanding subsection (b) or (e) of this section, an increase in
pay granted under section 5404 of this title is an equivalent increase in pay
within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section and shall be taken into
account in the case of any employee who, before becoming subject to this
section, was granted such an increase while covered by the performance
management and recognition system established under chapter 54 of this title.
- (g) In computing periods of service under subsection (a) in the case of an
employee who moves without a break in service of more than 3 days from a
position under a nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of
Defense or the Coast Guard described in section 2105(c) to a position under the
Department of Defense or the Coast Guard, respectively, that is subject to this
subchapter, service under such instrumentality shall, under regulations
prescribed by the Office, be deemed service in a position subject to this
subchapter.
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