Most federal employees in the Washington area will receive a raise just shy of 2.3 percent in early January, under an order President Trump issued Friday.
The order sets a General Schedule raise by default because Congress did not take a position before recessing for the year. The GS is the pay system for most white-collar employees below the senior levels.
Congress has followed a policy of action by inaction on federal employee raises since a three-year freeze on salary rates ended with a raise in January 2014. Starting with that raise and each year since, legislators have allowed the White House’s proposed raise amount to take effect under a complex federal pay law providing for acceptance of that figure unless Congress sets a different one.
The default raise is 1.9 percent, but in yet another complexity, the raise is divided into two components. An increase of 1.4 percent is to be paid across the board, and the funds for the remainder divided among localities, based on comparisons of federal and private-sector pay by metropolitan area.
