within-class salary increases of foreign service officers and reserve officers

within-class salary increases of foreign service officers and reserve officers Sec. 403. Section 625 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 (22 U.S.C. 995) is amended to read as follows: “Sec. 625. (a) Any Foreign Service officer or any Reserve officer, whose services meet the standards required for the efficient conduct of the work of the Service and who shall have been in a given class for a continuous period of nine months or more, shall, on the first day of the first pay period that begins on or after July 1 each year, receive an increase in salary to the next higher rate for the class in which such officer is serving. Credit toward such nine-month period may be granted to an officer in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe for any civilian service of such officer with the Government or with the government of the District of Columbia which was per-formed subsequent to any break in service in excess of three calendar days and subsequent to the officer’s last equivalent increase in pay. As used in this subsection, the term ‘equivalent increase in pay’ means— “(1) any increase in basic salary resulting from—“(A) a grade or class promotion, “(B) a regularly scheduled within-grade or within-class step increase, or “(C) a salary adjustment or combination of adjustments— “(i) made since the last equivalent increase in pay, “(ii) resulting from conversion from one pay system to another, and “(iii) equal to or greater than the amount of the within-class increase for the class to which the officer was appointed; or “(2) such other increases in salary as the Secretary may by regulation designate; but does not include any general increase in salary granted by law or any within-grade or within-class increase in salary awarded for meritorious performance. 89 STAT. 765 “(b) Without regard to any other law, the Secretary is authorized to grant to any Foreign Service officer or any Reserve officer additional increases in salary, within the salary range established for the class in which such officer is serving, based upon especially meritorious service.”.