Federal employees salary is now public and searchable

Seems like a lot of class warfare going on in this blog.

BTW... APP has been posting this info for years, though the 2011 data is relatively new.

wd said:   You can get post office salaries here: postal salaries. look up your mailman's salary. You might be shocked at how much they earn for carrying mail. Then look up your local post office manager and postmaster. I think you will be shocked at how much these people make.

Also, I looked at the salary of one person I know in federal service (not post office) and I feel she is underpaid for what she does.

My mailman makes 56k a year. That's good pay in Canton, OH.

bopc1996 said:   mnsweeps said:   Federal employee search

I searched salaries of people holding similar positions as me and I am miffed... They earn at least 20 % more than me and they have a cushy govt job while I slog day in and day out

You think that federal employee salaries are high , just look at state, county and city salaries. My ex wife works for LA City school systems as an elementary school teacher. Last year she made $89000 and will retire at 90% 0f her pay after 35 yrs service at age 57. Her health insurance will be free after retirement also.

Bet you weren't complaining when you were married to her.

SangioveseW said:   
What positions are grossly underpaid?There are actually quite a few upper level positions that are grossly underpaid. Doctors, lawyers, upper level researchers, etc..., but even then it depends on the exact position, location, the person's experience and the demand in the marketplace.

Lawyers who work for the federales have GREAT jobs. You have to remember that most lawyers in the private sector either earn relatively crappy wages or work obscene hours. A good lawyer who goes and works for the gov't will never make big law money but he also gets to work a 40 hour work week.

As a long-time public employee we've had this information online for years and years. FOIA requests were often from newspapers before the state wised up and just put it online. This is part of the deal, if you want to be paid with taxpayer money...then everybody gets to know what you make...seems fair to me.

That said, I'm not sure how useful this information is to anyone without doing some serious analysis of various budgets and historical revenue, etc. If the goal is to just look at salaries and say, "that son of a b**** is overpaid!" then it's a useful application I suppose. Some people are overpaid, some people are underpaid....managers at all levels of public employment need more flexibility to reward good workers and correct or terminate poor performers....sounds a lot like the same situation many private organizations find themselves in.

Here are CA state salaries (updated in 2011):
http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/

secstate said:   It appears to be missing foreign service officer salaries. I can see a few FSOs who are in political appointee positions but I am not seeing normal FSOs (maybe they fall under national security).

Have you tried under Department of State?

I think job satisfaction has a lot to do with it. My uncle is a database admin and found a super cush state job paying slightly more (15%). He quit after three weeks because there was hardly anything to do and he spent time at the office with the most boring people he's ever met. Went back to his old job and never looked back.

Appears to be missing the Judiciary as well.

mnsweeps said:   They earn at least 20 % more than me and they have a cushy govt job while I slog day in and day out

Then again, their grammar is likely better than yours.

All the professional ones ..... MDs, DVMs, PhDs, engineers, chemists, researchers of all kinds. Administrators .... too many and overpaid.

The Buckeye state....
http://www.tos.ohio.gov/State_Salary

My awful MIL made 113,000 before retiring with CSRS (meaning she will rob the taxpayers until she dies). Plus she never paid social security, didn't have a degree, was home every day by 3, and talked on the phone with friends all day.

Makes me despise her even more....

Squeezer99 said:   last time i checked, the search didn't include judicial or legislative employees, only executive branch

Judges I looked up are listed.

mistycoupon said:   jhuflyer said:   My awful MIL made 113,000 before retiring with CSRS (meaning she will rob the taxpayers until she dies). Plus she never paid social security, didn't have a degree, was home every day by 3, and talked on the phone with friends all day.

Makes me despise her even more....

She never paid social security because she doesn't collect it.
Only those that collect it have to pay it.

What about SSI?

fedguy said:   mistycoupon said:   jhuflyer said:   My awful MIL made 113,000 before retiring with CSRS (meaning she will rob the taxpayers until she dies). Plus she never paid social security, didn't have a degree, was home every day by 3, and talked on the phone with friends all day.

Makes me despise her even more....

She never paid social security because she doesn't collect it.
Only those that collect it have to pay it.

What about SSI?

I hope there aren't many federal retirees that qualify for SSI

And CSRS employees do not collect social security benefits, unless they worked elsewhere that accumulated benefits, and then they could be significantly redcued. Still 85% of your high 3 year average ain't too shabby. And for the record, that system went away in 84... just got to wait for them all to die.

wp746911 said:   Usorry said:   Civil Servant.

wp746911 said:   If I hear 'civil servant' ever again in my life i'm gonna blow my brains out.

SPlat.

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?

FKAKS said:   fedguy said:   mistycoupon said:   jhuflyer said:   My awful MIL made 113,000 before retiring with CSRS (meaning she will rob the taxpayers until she dies). Plus she never paid social security, didn't have a degree, was home every day by 3, and talked on the phone with friends all day.

Makes me despise her even more....

She never paid social security because she doesn't collect it.
Only those that collect it have to pay it.

What about SSI?

I hope there aren't many federal retirees that qualify for SSI

And CSRS employees do not collect social security benefits, unless they worked elsewhere that accumulated benefits, and then they could be significantly redcued. Still 85% of your high 3 year average ain't too shabby. And for the record, that system went away in 84... just got to wait for them all to die.

I actually was referring to those who never paid into Social Security (and never had any earned wages) and getting the SSI payments.

What about CSRS offset? I know one employee who went on maternity leave in the 1980s and came back as a CSRS offset. I believe that she would get both CSRS and SSA payments with adjusted amounts.

http://www.myfederalretirement.com/public/470.cfm

ppatin said:   SangioveseW said:   
What positions are grossly underpaid?There are actually quite a few upper level positions that are grossly underpaid. Doctors, lawyers, upper level researchers, etc..., but even then it depends on the exact position, location, the person's experience and the demand in the marketplace.


Lawyers who work for the federales have GREAT jobs. You have to remember that most lawyers in the private sector either earn relatively crappy wages or work obscene hours. A good lawyer who goes and works for the gov't will never make big law money but he also gets to work a 40 hour work week.

Hate to break it to you but the AUSA's I worked opposite and members of the Federal Public Defenders Office(I stayed contract on the A Panel) work some pretty miserable days. 14 hours or more living on Pizza when a major case goes to trial. Only time I walked out early (first witness to finish after 5pm; we had to be there at 8am next day for pretrial matters and started testimony at 8:30) was when I was appointed standby counsel for someone who chose to go pro se. Court adjourned and I was off the clock. Appointed counsel and the AUSA's had to go back to the office and get ready for the next day. Add Saturdays and Sundays and you will have had all the fun you can stand. One time this went on from Jan 3 to Feb 14th and then we had to wait for the jury to return two days later. I was in 10 that went over 30 days between 1996 and 2004 when I turned 55 and got lighter cases. I certainly didn't see going home at 5pm at FDIC when they were resolving the S&L debacle. Same in the Solicitor's Office at the FERC.

Don't know what you are smoking but I will have some.

(Long time FW member, but posting under new username because of super-paranoia.)

I'm a lawyer for the federal government, and work in a large office full of lawyers. Because of the nature of our cases, we litigate against large, prestigious law firms, and the work is very challenging. Almost every lawyer in the office makes $100K-$150K, but:

1. We rarely ever have 40-hour weeks. For the most part, our hours are better than our private-sector counterparts, but still we're routinely doing 10-12 hour days.
2. We are in high demand by private firms willing to pay us upwards of $250K, with increases of $20-$30K/year. In the past few months, we've lost nearly 10% of our office to private firms. The firms are hiring (in contrast to the past couple years, when hiring was slow or nonexistent), and our area of expertise is in high demand. With the government pay freeze in effect, the pay gap between the private sector and the government widens every year. I took a pay cut of over 50% to join the government. The work is more interesting, and the hours are better, but I may soon reach the same conclusion as my colleagues, and decide that it is time to go back to the private sector, since on an hourly basis, I'm definitely making far less. I get multiple headhunter calls every week.
3. The benefits in the government are far WORSE than in private firms. At my last firm, health insurance was free for a single person (pay $100/month at the government), and I had tons of benefits that the government does not offer (such as free long-term disability and free life insurance). In addition, the firm gave 18 weeks of paid maternity leave, and 4 weeks of paid paternity leave -- the government gives nothing, and requires you to use annual/sick leave to care for your newborn. My firm just did combined annual/sick leave, and the number of days I got is the same as the number of days I get in the government.

Also, for those who think that they and their colleagues in the private world are underpaid, you may be surprised if you knew the pay of your colleagues. A secretary at my last firm was mistakenly sent a spreadsheet containing the salaries of all non-lawyers, and discovered that even though she was one of the most desired secretaries among the attorneys, she was among the lowest paid. Meanwhile, secretaries that everyone hated and that were virtually useless were making twice as much. Regardless of whether it's the government or private sector, there will always be people who are overpaid and underpaid.