Feb
27

Mo money, mo problems?* We’ll take the risk

Most Smithsonian employees will be seeing a little bit extra in their checks in 2019.
(*With apologies to Notorious B.I.G.)

pile of dollar bills

On Friday, Feb. 15, President Trump signed a new $303 billion omnibus spending bill (P.L. 116-6) that eliminated the threat of any further government furloughs through Sept. 30, 2019. The bill also lifted the pay scale freeze for Federal employees, granting all employees a 1.4 percent across-the-board increase and, for eligible employees, locality pay increases of approximately .5 percent, for an overall average pay increase of 1.9 percent.

The pay raise is retroactive to January 6. However, “A new Executive order is needed to establish the new 2019 General Schedule and other pay schedules, including decisions about how the locality component of the increase will be applied,” says Paige Jones, Supervisory Human Resources Specialist in the Division of Compensation and Benefits of the Smithsonian’s Office of Human Resources. “The Office of Personnel Management will inform agencies as soon as the Executive order has been signed and will work with agency HR offices and payroll providers to provide implementation guidance so they can process the pay adjustment as quickly as possible.”

As the pay adjustment is for 2019, once the second executive order is signed federal employees will also see a lump sum payment to their paychecks representing the increase retroactive to the beginning of the first full pay period of January. In the Washington, D.C. area, where most Smithsonian employees are based, the increase will provide a 1.4 percent across-the-board raise, as well as a 0.5 percent locality pay adjustment.

According to the Smithsonian’s Office of Planning, Management and Budget, the 2019 pay raise was unfunded, meaning individual Smithsonian units will have to find a way to absorb these higher salary costs from their existing 2019 budget.

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Posted: 27 February 2019
About the Author:

John Barrat is the senior writer and editor for the Office of Communications and External Affairs. He has 25 years of experience publicizing research by Smithsonian scientists, from astrophysics to paleontology. He has contributed to numerous publications, including Inside Smithsonian Research, the Smithsonian News Service, Smithsonian Research Reports and Smithsonian Insider.