28 U.S.C. § 461 — Adjustments in certain salaries
submitted 51 years ago by Pub. L. 94-82 to r/title-28-JUDICIARY-AND-JUDICIAL-PROCEDURE · 250 words · no verdicts yet
Certain federal salaries adjust automatically when General Schedule pay rates rise, based on the Employment Cost Index. The percentage raise can never exceed that year's General Schedule raise. This rule never cuts pay the Constitution protects, like federal judges' salaries.
(a)(1) Starting at the first pay period on or after the start of the month when a General Schedule pay raise under section 5303 of title 5 takes effect (with an exception in (b)), each salary covered by this section must be adjusted. The adjustment equals the percentage of that salary matching the most recent change in the Employment Cost Index, or "ECI," as measured under a specific 1989 ethics law formula (section 704(a)(1) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989). That percentage is measured from the first day of the fiscal year when the General Schedule raise takes effect. The result is rounded to the nearest $100 — rounding up if it's exactly halfway.
(2) But the percentage raise in any calendar year, before rounding, for any covered salary, can never be bigger than the percentage raise that year under the General Schedule (section 5303 of title 5).
(b) This whole adjustment process in subsection (a) does not apply if it would cut the pay of anyone whose salary the Constitution protects from being reduced while they hold office — under section 1 of article III of the Constitution. That protection covers federal judges.
Subject to paragraph (2), 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 of title 5 in the rates of pay under the General Schedule (except as provided in subsection (b)), each salary rate which is subject to adjustment under this section shall be adjusted by an amount, rounded to the nearest multiple of $100 (or if midway between multiples of $100, to the next higher multiple of $100) equal to the percentage of such salary rate which corresponds to the most recent percentage change in the ECI (relative to the date described in the next sentence), as determined under section 704(a)(1) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. The appropriate date under this sentence is the first day of the fiscal year in which such adjustment in the rates of pay under the General Schedule takes effect.
In no event shall the percentage adjustment taking effect under paragraph (1) in any calendar year (before rounding), in any salary rate, exceed the percentage adjustment taking effect in such calendar year under section 5303 of title 5 in the rates of pay under the General Schedule.
Subsection (a) shall not apply to the extent it would reduce the salary of any individual whose compensation may not, under section 1 of article III of the Constitution of the United States, be diminished during such individual’s continuance in office.
Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 94–82, title II, § 205(a)(1), Aug. 9, 1975, 89 Stat. 422; amended Pub. L. 101–194, title VII, § 704(a)(2)(A), Nov. 30, 1989, 103 Stat. 1769; Pub. L. 101–509, title V, § 529 [title I, § 101(b)(4)(J)], Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1427, 1440; Pub. L. 103–356, title I, § 101(4), Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3411.)
- 1975Enacted · Pub. L. 94-82 · 89 Stat. 422
- 1989Amended · Pub. L. 101-194 · 103 Stat. 1769
- 1990Amended · Pub. L. 101-509 · 104 Stat. 1427, 1440
- 1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-356 · 108 Stat. 3411
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 94-82 on 1975-08-09.
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