Special Salary Rates
Title 38 for Nurses and Allied Health Employees
Purpose of Authority
To ensure that the Clinical Center can be competitive, on the basis of pay, with other healthcare facilities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in the recruitment and retention of well-qualified nurses and allied health employees.
Who is Eligible?
GS employees in occupations and grades that have been approved for receipt of Special Salary Rates. Restrictions in coverage based on organization or position are noted on the Title 38 Occupational Coverage Chart.
General Provisions
Special salary rates are established or increased only when necessary to recruit or retain nurses and allied health employees. Special Salary Rates may be established (1) to be competitive with, but not exceed, the pay for similar jobs in non-Federal facilities, (2) to achieve adequate staffing, and/or (3) to recruit individuals with specialized skills.
Special Salary Rate payscales use the same grade and step framework as the regular General Schedule with 10 steps for each grade level. Some Special Salary Rate payscales use an above-the-minimum entry rate in which case a specific step other than step 1 serves as the minimum step for all employees at that grade level.
Relationship to Basic Pay
For all employees receiving Title 38 Special Salary Rates, the Special Salary Rate is the employee’s rate of basic pay for all pay actions and other pay purposes such as calculating benefits and retirement.
Within-grade increases and promotions are calculated for Special Salary Rate employees in the same manner as for regular General Schedule employees.
Employees receiving Special Salary Rates are eligible, when appropriate, to receive an individual above-the-minimum rate under the superior qualifications appointment authority and to receive recruitment bonuses or retention allowances.
Locality pay is not paid to employees receiving Special Salary Rates.
Restrictions
Positions in the following pay plans are not eligible for Title 38 Special Salary Rates: CO (Commissioned Corps Officers), ES (Senior Executive Service), AD (Administratively Determined), SL (Senior Level), and ST (scientific and professional positions paid under 5 U.S.C. 5376).
Approval and Review Processes
A request for a new Special Salary Rate may be initiated by a department head who identifies significant recruitment and/or retention problems for an occupation based on a pay disparity. A written request for a Special Salary Rate should be made to the Director, OHRM/CC, outlining the recruitment and/or retention problem(s), the programmatic impact, and the pay issues and needs. The Clinical Center OHRM will prepare a complete Special Salary Rate request, obtain necessary Clinical Center clearance, and forward the package to the NIH Office of Human Resource Management for approval.
Clinical Center Special Salary Rates are reviewed annually by the Clinical Center Director to assess whether they continue to be appropriate, necessary, and competitive and to make increases or other adjustments as needed. These decisions are based on a consideration of several factors including: (1) the General Schedule pay increase, (2) the rate of increase of the Hospital Employee Cost Index [ECI] as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), (3) recruitment and retention data, and (4) salary data for comparable positions in the local area.
