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March 20, 2000 Pay Reform as It Applies to Border Patrol Agents As part of the Administrations FY 2001 budget, INS has proposed a comprehensive pay reform package that will fundamentally reform and improve the overall compensation and benefit pay for Border Patrol Agents. The pay reform package will offer Border Patrol Agents better overall compensation for their work and put INS in a much stronger position to recruit new agents and retain experienced agents. The three major components of the pay reform plan are:
Upgrading the Journey Level The upgrades, effective in June 2000, will provide additional promotion potential for agents in non-supervisory positions by raising the journey level grade of Border Patrol Agents from GS-9 to GS-11. The upgrades are based on extensive analysis that has shown the increased complexity of the work performed by today's Border Patrol and will have a positive impact on recruitment and retention. Work will be structured and assigned in a manner that will allow an across-the-board increase. INS does not anticipate that this change in the journey level will have any effects beyond the GS-11 level, because it is already basing Border Patrol supervisors grades on supervising GS-11 level work. Existing GS-11 agents will not be affected by the upgrades; however, they will benefit from the provisions of Pay Reform, which include the payment of LEAP and the new special salary rates. Pay Reform Pay reform will provide LEAP for all Border Patrol Agents and pilots, like that currently paid to Criminal Investigators in INS, across the Department of Justice and other federal agencies. Pay Reform will benefit approximately 12,533 INS employees, of which 8,396 are Border Patrol Agents and 78 are pilots (as of February 2000). INS currently pays Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO) to Border Patrol Agents and pilots. Agents at the same grade and step, working exactly the same overtime hours, can receive different pay based solely on Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) status. AUO is also extremely difficult to administer and becomes increasingly expensive to the government as agents are determined to be covered by FLSA. LEAP provides a standard 25 percent annual premium pay in exchange for an average of two unscheduled duty hours each workday. LEAP also counts toward the calculation of retirement benefits. Under current pay practices, the typical agent is paid his or her locality rate of pay, plus 45 Act overtime, and FLSA overtime as follows: Locality pay, plus 25 percent of the locality pay as AUO, plus scheduled overtime, plus FLSA overtime for hours worked in excess of 85.5 per pay period. AUO is also subject to intense scrutiny by outside agencies (e.g., the General Accounting Office and the Department of Justice Inspector Generals Office). All other large federal law enforcement agencies use LEAP to compensate their Criminal Investigators pursuant to legislation enacted in 1994. Coverage under Law Enforcement Availability Pay will:
Special Salary Rates Special Salary Rates (SSR) are higher than normal pay rates established by the Office of Personnel Management to overcome handicaps in the recruitment or retention of well-qualified personnel. Under the provisions of Pay Reform, the Attorney General can increase the pay for GS-5 through GS-11 Border Patrol agents by paying SSRs. A necessary part of the reform package, this will make salary levels more competitive and strengthen recruitment and retention incentives. Agents eligible for the SSRs will receive higher basic pay, more take-home pay, increased earnings for retirement contributions, and a simpler overtime system. While Pay Reform reduces the amount of overtime we pay these agents, it increases the amount of base pay that they receive. For some people, only about 62 pilots and 950 supervisory GS-12 agents, there will be a loss of FLSA overtime earnings, which is not offset by SSRs. This also occurred in 1994 when Criminal Investigators throughout the federal government were changed to coverage under LEAP in order to provide a simplified means of compensating them fairly for the long hours associated with law enforcement activities, and exempt them from complicated FLSA overtime provisions. Benefit to the Agent After implementation of pay reform, the employee would be paid the new SSR for his or her grade and step as basic pay, plus 25 percednt LEAP and any 45 Act overtime earned for scheduled overtime work at the higher hourly rate derived from his or her special salary rate. A comparison of current pay versus SSR/LEAP rates based on 1999 data and rates follows. The "Current" column is an average amount for the grade and includes locality pay, scheduled overtime, AUO and FLSA overtime. The "New" column includes the new SSR and LEAP. The following table shows what might have been payable in San Diego in 1999 following the methodology discussed above.
As you can see, the total compensation is increased for Border Patrol Agents in grades GS-05 through GS-11. These increases in basic pay have several effects:
For these employees and the agency, it is a win-win situation. What Happens Next These pay proposals will be debated in Congress during the coming months as part of the appropriations process that culminates in the Federal Budget being enacted for the fiscal year that begins in October 2000. INS Headquarters Human Resources Division will be working with the Chief of the Border Patrol to restructure the GS-9 jobs to support an across-the-board upgrade in the journey level to GS-11. The upgrades will be effective in June of this year. |
Last Modified 02/20/2003