37 U.S.C. § 1009
Section 1009 · Adjustments of monthly basic pay
Current version, with additions and removals from the February 10, 1996 version.
(a) Whenever the General Schedule of compensation for Federal classified employees as contained in section 5332 of title 5 is adjusted upward, the President shall immediately make an upward adjustment in the—
(b) Effectiveness of Adjustment.—An adjustment under this section shall have the force and effect of law.
(c) Equal Percentage Increase for All Members.—(1) An adjustment made under this section in a year shall provide all eligible members with an increase in the monthly basic pay that is the percentage (rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percent) by which the ECI for the base quarter of the year before the preceding year exceeds the ECI for the base quarter of the second year before the preceding calendar year (if at all).
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), but subject to subsection (d), the percentage of the adjustment taking effect under this section during each of fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006, shall be one-half of one percentage point higher than the percentage that would otherwise be applicable under such paragraph.
(3) In this subsection:
(A) The term “ECI” means the Employment Cost Index (wages and salaries, private industry workers) published quarterly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(B) The term “base quarter” for any year is the three-month period ending on September 30 of such year.
(d) Protection of Member's Total Compensation While Performing Certain Duty.—(1) The total daily equivalent amount of the elements of compensation described in paragraph (3), together with other pay and allowances under this title, to be paid to a member of the uniformed services who is temporarily assigned to duty away from the member's permanent duty station or to duty under field conditions at the member's permanent duty station shall not be less, for any day during the assignment period, than the total amount, for the day immediately preceding the date of the assignment, of the elements of compensation and other pay and allowances of the member.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to an element of compensation or other pay or allowance of a member during an assignment described in such paragraph to the extent that the element of compensation or other pay or allowance is reduced or terminated due to circumstances unrelated to the assignment.
(3) The elements of compensation referred to in this subsection mean—
(b) An adjustment under this section shall have the force and effect of law and shall—
(1) carry the same effective date as that applying to the compensation adjustments provided General Schedule employees;
(2) be based on the rates of the various elements of compensation as defined in, or made under, section 402 or 403 of this title or this section; and
(3) subject to subsections (c) and (d), provide all eligible members with an increase in each element of compensation, set forth in subsection (a), which is of the same percentage as the overall average percentage increase in the General Schedule rates of basic pay for civilian employees.
(c)(1) Whenever the President determines such action to be in the best interest of the Government, he is authorized to allocate the overall average percentage of any increase described in subsection (b)(3) among the elements of compensation specified in subsection (a) on a percentage basis other than an equal percentage basis; however, the amount allocated to the element of monthly basic pay may not be less than 75 percent of the amount that would have been allocated to the element of basic pay under subsection (b)(3).
(2) Under regulations prescribed by the President, whenever the President exercises his authority under paragraph (1) to allocate the elements of compensation specified in subsection (a) on a percentage basis other than an equal percentage basis, he may pay to each member without dependents who, under section 403(b) or (c) of this title, is not entitled to receive a basic allowance for quarters, an amount equal to the difference between (1) the amount of such increase under paragraph (1) in the amount of the basic allowance for quarters which, but for section 403(b) or (c) of this title, such member would be entitled to receive, and (2) the amount by which such basic allowance for quarters would have been increased under subsection (b)(3) if the President had not exercised such authority.
(d)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), whenever the President determines such action to be in the best interest of the Government, he may allocate the overall percentage increase in the element of basic pay that would otherwise be effective after any allocation made under subsection (c) among such pay grade and years-of-service categories as he considers appropriate.
(2) In making any allocation of an overall percentage increase in basic pay under paragraph (1)—
(A) the amount of the increase in basic pay for any given pay grade and years-of-service category after any allocation made under this subsection or under subsection (c) (or under both such subsections) may not be less than 75 percent of the amount of the increase in the element of basic pay that would otherwise have been effective with respect to such pay grade and years-of-service category under subsection (b)(3); and
(B) the overall percentage increase in the elements of compensation specified in subsection (a) in the case of any member of the uniformed services with four years or less service may not exceed the overall percentage increase in the General Schedule rates of basic pay for civilian employees.
(e) Whenever the President plans to exercise his authority under subsection (c) or (d) with respect to any anticipated increase in the compensation of members of the uniformed services, he shall advise the Congress, at the earliest practicable time prior to the effective date of such increase, regarding the proposed allocation of such increase.
(f) The allocations of increases made under this section shall be assessed in conjunction with the quadrennial review of military compensation required by section 1008(b) of this title.
(C) the basic allowance for housing authorized members of the uniformed services by section 403 of this title.
(e) Presidential Determination of Need for Alternative Pay Adjustment.—(1) If, because of national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, the President considers the pay adjustment which would otherwise be required by this section in any year to be inappropriate, the President shall prepare and transmit to Congress before September 1 of the preceding year a plan for such alternative pay adjustments as the President considers appropriate, together with the reasons therefor.
(2) In evaluating an economic condition affecting the general welfare under this subsection, the President shall consider pertinent economic measures including the Indexes of Leading Economic Indicators, the Gross Domestic Product, the unemployment rate, the budget deficit, the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, the Employment Cost Index, and the Implicit Price Deflator for Personal Consumption Expenditures.
(3) The President shall include in the plan submitted to Congress under paragraph (1) an assessment of the impact that the alternative pay adjustments proposed in the plan would have on the Government's ability to recruit and retain well-qualified persons for the uniformed services.