Pay Systems
Federal Wage System
The Federal Wage System (FWS) is a pay system that determines pay for employees who work in trades, crafts, and skilled and unskilled laborer positions. There are three wage rate schedules:
- Wage Grade (WG) – covers non-supervisory employees
- Wage Leader (WL) – covers leader employees
- Wage Supervisor (WS) – covers supervisory employees
There are 15 grades in the WG and WL wage schedules and nineteen grades in the WS wage schedule. Each grade has 5 steps. Just like the GS system, employees can advance to a higher step within the grade if they meet time and performance requirements.
FWS Steps
Under the FWS system, the five steps are 4 percent apart and the second step is based on the going rate in private industry. If your performance is satisfactory and you meet the time requirements you will be granted a within-grade increase. Following are the waiting periods for FWS full-time and part-time employees:
- For advancement to step 2 – 26 calendar weeks
- For advancement to step 3 – 78 calendar weeks
- For advancement to steps 4 and 5 – 104 calendar weeks
Just as in the GS system, excess time in a non-pay status extends the waiting period.
