[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2309-E2310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FAIR TREATMENT FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 12, 1998

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, my colleague Congressman Benjamin Gilman and 
I introduced in the 105th Congress, H.R. 1240, a bill to provide pay 
parity for the 1400 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) with other members 
of the federal executive branch workforce. The bill was referred to the 
Civil Service Subcommittee of the Government Reform and Oversight 
Committee, chaired by Congressman John Mica. Chairman Mica supported 
the bill by including it in the Subcommittee's draft Civil Service 
Reform Bill, which did not pass this Congress.
  The provision to grant ALJs a cost of living adjustment (COLA) when 
federal employees in the General Schedule receive a COLA became 
necessary when ALJs as part of the Executive Schedule were denied 
regular COLAs when Members of Congress restricted COLAs for themselves. 
ALJs have had only two COLAs in the last eight years, even though they 
make salaries more like the general schedule employee, rather than the 
salaries of Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Congress or Federal 
District Court Judges. More importantly, the only merit-selected 
administrative judiciary in the world are forever prejudiced by the 
lack of annual COLAs because their retirement pay will be reduced as a 
result.
  During this Congress, we learned a great deal about how unfair the 
treatment for ALJs is because they are included in the agency budget 
request for the COLA granted the executive workforce. This is not an 
appropriation

[[Page E2310]]

request but simply the authority to access the funds already granted to 
the agency. There was bipartisan and widespread support for H.R. 1240 
to be included in the FY'99 Treasury, Postal Service, and General 
Government Appropriations bill at the urging of the American Bar 
Association, Federal Bar Association, Association of Administrative Law 
Judges and the Federal Association of Administrative Law Judges. The 
House Judiciary Committee included H.R. 1240 as an amendment to H.R. 
1252, the Judicial Reform Bill of 1998. Despite all of this support, 
ALJs will be the only federal employees in their hearing offices to not 
receive a 3.6 percent COLA, as hearing office clerks, secretaries and 
staff attorneys all benefit from the annual COLA and increase in their 
retirement as well.
  This disparity between ALJs and other federal employees has not gone 
unnoticed by the Administration and the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM). OPM commented on H.R. 1240, when it was included in the Civil 
Service Subcommittee draft, stating that OPM supports a COLA for ALJs 
but at the discretion of the President, who would determine the amount, 
giving ALJs equal treatment with federal employees in the Senior 
Executive Service (SES). I support this result in the assurance that 
ALJs receive their well-deserved COLAs. Unlike ALJs, the SES this year 
will most likely receive a COLA at the President's discretion. 
Unfortunately, OPM's proposed statutory change for ALJ fair treatment 
was not received until the eve of the FY'99 Treasury, Postal Service & 
General Government Appropriations markup.
  Mr. Speaker, I am including for the Record the proposed text of OPM's 
draft legislation to ensure fair treatment for ALJs. My colleague on 
the bill, Mr. Gilman, and I pledge to work with the Administration and 
OPM to enact this suggested change for ALJs in the 106th Congress. We 
regret that it was unable to be resolved this year but the attached 
proposal is a good start to correcting this inequity. Text of OPM 
proposal follows:

                   PAY FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
       Sec.   . Section 5372(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1) by striking the second sentence and 
     inserting the following:
       ``Within level AL-3, there shall be 6 rates of basic pay, 
     designated as AL-3, rates A through F, respectively. The rate 
     of basic pay for AL-3, rate A, may not be less than 65 
     percent of the rate of basic pay for level IV of the 
     Executive Schedule, and the rate of basic pay for AL-1 may 
     not exceed the rate of basic pay for level IV of the 
     Executive Schedule.''.
       (2) in paragraph (3)(A) by striking ``upon'' each place it 
     appears and inserting in each such place ``at the beginning 
     of the next pay period following''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``Subject to paragraph (1), effective at the beginning of 
     the first applicable pay period commencing on or after the 
     first day of the month in which an adjustment takes effect 
     under section 5303 in the rates of basic pay under the 
     General Schedule, each rate of basic pay for administrative 
     law judges shall be adjusted by an amount determined by the 
     President to be appropriate.''.

     

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