22 U.S.C. § 3962 — Salaries of Senior Foreign Service members

(a) Prescription by President; basic salary rates; adjustments; determinations by Secretary.
(1) The President must prescribe salary classes for the Senior Foreign Service and an appropriate title for each class. The President must also prescribe a range of basic salary rates for each class. Except as provided in paragraph (3), those rates may not exceed the maximum rate or be below the minimum rate of basic pay payable for the Senior Executive Service under section 5382 of title 5.
(2) The Secretary must determine which basic salary rate within the President’s ranges is paid to each Senior Foreign Service member. The Secretary must base the decision on the member’s individual performance, contribution to the Department’s mission, or both, as determined under a rigorous performance-management system. Except as provided in regulations prescribed by the Secretary, and to the extent possible consistently with regulations governing the Senior Executive Service, the Secretary may adjust a member’s basic salary rate no more than once in any 12-month period.
(3) If the Secretary determines that the Senior Foreign Service performance-appraisal system, as designed and applied, makes meaningful distinctions based on relative performance—
(A) the maximum basic-pay rate for the Senior Foreign Service is level II of the Executive Schedule; and
(B) the applicable aggregate pay cap is equivalent to the aggregate pay cap in section 5307(d)(1) of title 5 for Senior Executive Service members.
(b) Career appointees in Senior Executive Service accepting limited appointment in Senior Foreign Service; adjustment.
(1) An individual who is a career appointee in the Senior Executive Service, receives basic pay at a rate payable under section 5382 of title 5, and accepts a limited appointment in the Senior Foreign Service in a salary class with a lower basic salary rate must be paid the former basic rate, with the adjustments in paragraph (2), until the salary for the individual’s Senior Foreign Service class equals or exceeds the salary payable under this subsection.
(2) The salary paid under this subsection must be adjusted by 50 percent of each adjustment taking effect after the individual’s Senior Foreign Service appointment in the basic pay rate the individual received under section 5382 of title 5 immediately before that appointment.