step-increases

step-increases Sec. 603. Title VII of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended (5 U.S.C. 1121–1125), relating to step-increases under such Act, is amended to read as follows: “Title VII—Step-Increases “Sec. 701. (a) Each officer or employee compensated on a per annum basis, and occupying a permanent position within the scope of the compensation schedules fixed by this Act, who has not attained the maximum rate of compensation for the grade in which his position is placed, shall be advanced in compensation successively to the next higher rate within the grade at the beginning of the next pay period following the completion of (1) each fifty-two calendar weeks of service in salary rates 1, 2, and 3, or (2) each one hundred and four calendar weeks of service in salary rates 4, 5, and 6, or (3) each one hundred and fifty-six calendar weeks of service in salary rates 7, 8, and 9, subject to the following conditions: “(A) That no equivalent increase in compensation from any cause was received during such period; “(B) That his work is of an acceptable level of competence as determined by the head of the department; and “(C) That the benefit of successive step-increases shall be preserved, under regulations issued by the Commission, for officers and employees whose continuous service is interrupted in the public interest by service with the Armed Forces or by service in essential non-Government civilian employment during a period of war or national emergency. “(b) Any increase in compensation granted by law shall not be construed to be an equivalent increase in compensation within the meaning of subsection (a). “Sec. 702. (a) Within the limit of available appropriations and in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commission, the head of each department is authorized to grant additional step-increases in recognition of high quality performance above that ordinarily found in the type of position concerned. Step-increases under this section shall be in addition to those under section 701 and shall not be construed to be an equivalent increase in compensation within the meaning of subsection (a) of section 701. “(b) No officer or employee shall be eligible under this section for more than one such additional step-increase within any period of fifty-two weeks. “Sec. 703. This title shall not apply to the compensation of persons appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.”