[quote=sjk]…Public-private pay comparability has become a major political issue in the past year, with some claiming that public workers are overpaid and others claiming they are paid too little. An important aspect of this debate is the difference between federal workers on the one hand and state and local workers on the other. Although federal workers earn higher wages and benefits than comparable private workers, the state-local situation is more complicated. Compared to private workers, state-local workers tend to earn less in wages but more in benefits. The net impact on overall pay is controversial….[/quote]
Civil service Federal jobs (thru GS-9/WG-9 levels) typically have ten pay steps, “maxing out” in 9.5 to ten years (depending on classification – some have 6 mos probationary period and some have one year). Thus, persons in Federal employment do not have to move around in order to get a raise, like state and local workers do. Ironically, it is easier for them to do so, by simply putting in a request for a new locale (for a lateral transfer in the same classification they are working in). This is done all the time, state to state and often in conjunction with military transfers of a spouse.
State and local civil service positions typically have 3-8 pay steps (avg of 5) in each classification. So at the 4.5 or 5-year mark, the employee is “maxed out” and can’t get a raise no matter how well they do on the job. They MUST get “promoted” to a higher classification (and serve a new probationary period) in order to advance … or stagnate in their positions. Many public employees don’t mind “stagnating” and do so voluntarily for many years simply for a particular work location and not wanting to serve another probationary period and for no other reasons.
If a local, state or Federal employee does NOT pass probation in the position they were promoted to, they have “bumping rights” back to the position they left, with no guarantees it will be in the same work location (but will be local to it). This happens all the time and the agency they promoted from is obligated to find them a “make work” position wherever they can, if they don’t currently have an opening in their classification.
It should be noted that “passing probation” is often political in nature and has absolutely nothing to do with prior experience, skills and abilities of the job at hand.
