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Pay hikes, merit awards suspended
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Posted on Feb 28 2023
Arnold I. Palacios
Citing the need to stabilize the fiscal condition of the CNMI government, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios has suspended all within-grade increases and merit awards.
In a directive issued Thursday and addressed to all department and activity heads, Palacios said this decision to suspend within-grade increases and merit awards across the entire government comes in light of the CNMI’s current precarious financial situation.
“I want to assure you that we are exploring every opportunity to mitigate the impact of these circumstances,” said the governor as he asked for cooperation and adherence to his directive.
Within-grade increases or step increases are periodic increases in an employee’s rate of basic pay from one step of the grade of his or her position to the next higher step of that grade.
Under the Commonwealth Code, the within-grade increases and merit awards may be granted based upon the availability of funds.
If the governor determines that funds are not available and so announces by directive, the resulting missed increase will not be subject to retroactive payment. If funds are available, an employee may be granted a one step, within-grade increase upon the completion of each year (52 consecutive calendar weeks) of sustained satisfactory work performance.
The Commonwealth Code states that accumulative hours of leave without pay will delay the scheduled granting of a within-grade increase.
An employee may be awarded, in addition, a merit award (a one-time payment equal to the amount of the next one step increase in the employee’s base salary) by achieving an overall performance rating of “Exceptional” upon completion of the 52 consecutive calendar weeks of sustained exceptional work performance corresponding to the employee’s anniversary year. The merit award is a one-time performance award payment and not a salary step increase.
Such additional merit award shall not alter the employee’s waiting period required for qualifying for the next within grade increase, according to the Commonwealth Code.
