U.S. Office of Personnel Management www.opm.gov - Recruiting, Retaining and Honoring a World-Class Workforce to Serve the American People

Performance & Compensation

Salary

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136, November 24, 2003) established a performance-based pay system for members of the Senior Executive Service. The SES pay range has a minimum rate of basic pay equal to 120 percent of the rate for GS-15, step 1, and the maximum rate of basic pay is equal to the rate for Level III of the Executive Schedule. However, for any agency certified under 5 U.S.C. 5307(d) as having a performance appraisal system which, as designed and applied, makes meaningful distinctions based on relative performance, the maximum rate of basic pay will be the rate for Level II of the Executive Schedule. On December 22, 2010, the President signed an Executive order containing the 2011 pay schedules for the SES. The Executive order provides that the 2011 pay rates for the SES are not adjusted and remain at 2010 levels. Click here for pay freeze Qs and As.

The minimum rate of basic pay for SES members will remain at $119,554 in 2011. The applicable maximum rate of basic pay for the SES will continue to be $179,700 (EX-II) for SES members covered by a certified SES performance appraisal system and $165,300 (EX-III) for SES members covered by an SES performance appraisal system that has not been certified.

Agencies with certified performance appraisal systems for SES members and SL/ST positions must also apply a higher aggregate limitation on pay--up to the Vice President's salary ($230,700 in 2011, the same level as in 2010). (See 5 U.S.C. 5307 and 5 CFR part 530, subpart B.)

Click here for a chart of the Rates of Basic Pay for Members of the Senior Executive Service [4 KB]

Critical position pay up to Level I of the Executive Schedule may be authorized only in rare exceptional cases under 5 U.S.C. 5377. Critical position pay may be granted only for positions that require expertise of an extremely high level in a scientific, technical, professional, or administrative field, and are critical to the agency's accomplishment of the agency's mission, and only to the extent necessary to recruit or retain an individual exceptionally well qualified for the position.

RELATED SES COMPENSATION INFORMATION

• January 2011 Pay Adjustments Memorandum
• 2011 Salary Tables and Related Information
• 2011 Pay Tables for Executive and Senior Level Employees