8/26/08: The SEC has announced a 1.5% merit pay salary increase for FY 2009, effective this pay period. This amount roughly represents the equivalent of a “one-step” merit pay increase for everyone at the agency. NTEU continues to maintain that 1.5% represents a woefully inadequate pay raise for SEC employees, who have been asked by agency management to produce more and more while the SEC continues to reduce their pay raises under the merit pay program. The agency has now chosen to slash its merit pay budget for three consecutive years.

Summer 2008: The SEC’s original budget proposal for FY 2009 included only a 1.5% increase for its merit pay budget. However, NTEU’s lobbying efforts this summer to increase that merit pay budget have been paying dividends.

8/1/08: This week, the SEC filed with the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals a Petition for Review of NTEU's recent Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) victory in the 2002 within grade increase (WIGI) case. As a result of the SEC's decision to proceed in this fashion, this summer hundreds of the agency's own employees will not receive the back pay to which they are entitled as a result of the SEC's violation of federal labor law as determined by the FLRA. Instead, those employees will now be required to wait additional months for a final decision by the DC Circuit.

The SEC will be limited on appeal to the issues that it raised below, which have already been rejected both by Administrative Law Judge Richard Pearson and by the FLRA. Furthermore, the DC Circuit will consider these issues largely under the highly deferential substantial evidence standard of review, which is generally limited to determining whether the FLRA's reasoning was supported by sufficient evidence from which it could have decided as it did. The DC Circuit typically will not second guess the FLRA's judgment under that standard.

7/10/08: The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a fiscal 2009 funding bill that would provide federal civilian employees with a 3.9 percent pay raise — a full percentage point higher than that proposed by the White House, and an amount in step with a 2009 military pay raise moving through Congress. The committee also approved fiscal 2009 funding of $938 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission -- $25 million more than the White House proposal.

6/26/08: Yesterday afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2009 Financial Services and General Government spending bill. In addition to several important NTEU-supported provisions on the GS pay raise and contracting out of federal jobs, the committee recommended an appropriation of $15 million over the President’s request for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The committee has also specifically instructed the SEC to allocate at least half of this $15 million increase to augment funds budgeted for merit pay under the agency’s negotiated performance-based pay system.

6/5/08: The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) ruled in favor of NTEU this week, affirming a decision of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) that the SEC is required to make back pay distributions to all SEC employees who should have received within grade increases (WIGIs) in 2002.

5/30/08: NTEU today called on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to establish regulations that guard against arbitrary management decisions leading to discrimination based on age under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), particularly in alternative pay systems.

May, 2008: In February, the SEC announced its intention to suspend its merit pay program for 2008 by temporarily separating it from the performance evaluation process, while it continues to work with NTEU to create a new, fairer process for evaluating employees. In April, NTEU and the SEC reached an agreement on implementation of this temporary separation of merit pay from the appraisal process.

4/30/08: The SEC sent out an announcement yesterday concerning a change to the agency’s pay schedules. Unfortunately, this announcement was unclear and consequently it has generated a great deal of unnecessary confusion among agency employees.

In short, the SEC is eliminating “steps” and is shifting to the use of “ranges” in its pay schedules. This change, which the SEC sought during compensation negotiations with NTEU in 2006, was ordered by the Federal Service Impasses Panel in October, 2006.

2/12/08: SEC Executive Director Diego Ruiz stated during testimony before a House subcommittee this afternoon that all employees receiving an "acceptable" performance rating will receive an "equivalent share" of the funds the SEC has available for merit pay increases, until the agency's new performance management system has been implemented.