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In November 1965, Federal departments and agencies along with
the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) developed a coordinated
Federal Wage System (FWS) for Federal employees in trades and
labor occupations.
The policies and practices of FWS are based upon the principles
that:
1. wages shall be fixed and adjusted from time to time as
nearly as is consistent with the public interest in accordance
with prevailing rates (accomplished in a wage survey);
2. there shall be equal pay for substantially equal work; and
3. pay distinctions shall be maintained in keeping with work
distinctions.
The nonsupervisory structure of the FWS has 15 grades. To
establish a framework, OPM determined the relationships among
certain
key ranking jobs. The descriptions of these key jobs serve
as grade-level "peg-points" for the 15-grade structure. They
reflect the relative worth of different key lines of work and
levels within lines of work, and control the alignment of grade
levels in all nonsupervisory job grading standards. Key ranking
jobs are not job grading standards and are not to be used to
make final grade decisions for jobs. However, they can be used
as a guide.
The coding plan in the FWS provides an orderly method for
identifying jobs. The system uses a combination of letters and
numbers to indicate pay categories, job family and occupation,
and grade level. The pay category indicates the type of job and
specific wage schedule from which the job is paid. Pay category
is identified by a two letter prefix to the code for job family
and occupation. The designations for regular schedule jobs are:
WG - Wage Grade (Nonsupervisory)
WL - Leader positions
WS - Supervisors
The various kinds of work performed by employees have been
organized into occupations and job families. Each is defined in
terms of the nature of work. These definitions establish the
boundaries between the various occupations and families. A job
family is a broad grouping of occupations which are related in
one or more ways:
- similarity of function performed
- transferability of knowledge and skills from one
occupation to another
- similarity of materials or equipment worked on
An occupation is a subgroup of a family which includes all jobs
at the various skill levels in a particular kind of work. Jobs
within an occupation are similar to each other with regard to
subject matter, and basic knowledge and skill requirements.
The grade level of a job represents a range of knowledge,
skills, and responsibilities sufficiently similar to warrant a
common range of rates of basic pay on a local area wage
schedule. The grade is represented by two numbers. For grade
levels 1 to 9, a zero precedes the number which indicates the
grade. With the exception of Apprentice jobs, all jobs have a
grade-level designation. Instead of the grade-level code,
Apprentice jobs are designated by two zeroes.
The FWS system requires all employees to have a formalized
position description. A position description is a statement
of the major duties, responsibilities, and supervisory
relationships of a position. It should be kept up to date and
include information about the job which is significant to its
classification. It should clearly define the major duties
assigned, the nature and extent of responsibility in carrying
out those duties, qualification requirements, specialized
requirements not readily apparent, etc. All position
descriptions include a statement signed by the immediate
supervisor certifying to the accuracy of the position
description.
RELATED TOPICS:
Classification Standards;
General Schedule Classification System;
Key ranking jobs.
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