Periodic step-increases

§ 5335. Periodic step-increases (a) An employee paid on an annual basis, and occupying a permanent position within the scope of the General Schedule, who has not reached the maximum rate of pay for the grade in which his position is placed, shall be advanced in pay successively to the next higher rate within the grade at the beginning of the next pay period following the completion of— (1) each 52 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 1, 2, and 3; (2) each 104 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 4, 5, and 6; or (3) each 156 calendar weeks of service in pay rates 7, 8, and 9; subject to the following conditions: (A) the employee did not receive an equivalent increase in pay from any cause during that period; and (B) the work of the employee, except a hearing examiner appointed under section 3105 of this title, is of an acceptable level of competence as determined by the head of the agency. (b) Under regulations prescribed by the Civil Service Commission. the benefit of successive step-increases shall be preserved for employees whose continuous service is interrupted in the public interest by service with the armed forces or by service in essential nonGovernment civilian employment during a period of war or national emergency. (c) An increase in pay granted by statute is not an equivalent increase in pay within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section. (d) This section does not apply to the pay of an individual appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.