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the class of positions, in comparison
with those of other classes in the same
grade. The action also must be in the
interests of good administration.
The Commission is also authorized to
take this type of action whenever ne­
cessary in order to eliminate or reduce
serious pay inequities caused by differ­
ences in pay levels of Classification Act
employees and prevailing wage em­
ployees in the same government organiz­
ation and at the same location. This is
an extension and a broadening of a
similar authority previously possessed
by the Commission under Section 8 of
the War Overtime Pay A ct of 1943,
which was used to eliminate or reduce
pay inequities between Classification
Act supervisors at certain field installa­
tions and wage-schedule employees
whom they supervised. Any revisions of
minimum rates ordered by the Commis­
sion, with the reasons therefor, are re­
quired to be reported to Congress at
the end of each fiscal year.
Night Pay Differential
The purpose of a night pay differen­
tial is to compensate employees for
working at undesirable hours and, in
some measure, for the dislocation of
their normal living habits and for in­
convenience and extra expense. To
some degree, the payment of a night
differential overcomes some of the dif­
ficulties inherent in recruiting person­
nel for night shifts. In private industry,
the payment of night differentials is
rather common.
Provisions of the Federal Employees
Pay A ct of 1945, patterned after a cor­
responding provision for postal employ­
ees enacted in 1928, authorizes a 10 per
cent increase in pay for work perform­
ed between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. on a reg­
ularly scheduled tour of duty— i.e.
during the employee’s 40-hour basic
workweek. The differential is not a part
of basic pay, does not apply when the
employee is on leave, and is not included
in computing any overtime compensa­
tion to which the employee may be en­
titled.
Holiday Pay
Eight days are recognized as holidays
by federal statute; New Year’s Day,
Washington’s Birthday, Memorial or
Decoration Day, Independence Day,
Labor Day, Armistice Day, Thanksgiv­
ing Day, and Christmas Day. D ays or
parts of days on which departments
and agencies are closed by executive
order are treated in the same way as
statutory holidays for pay purposes.
The new law provides for extra com­
pensation for working on a holiday
when such holiday is not generally a
workday in the federal service. A pre­
mium rate of one and one-half times
the regular daily rate is established as
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