All Rise: Promotion and Pay Freeze on Federal Law Clerks Has Been Lifted

Oh yes, it's time federal clerks got back to the good life. A memo went out yesterday from Senior Judge Thomas Hogan who heads the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Hogan informed the system that the freeze on promotions, step increases, and cash awards for federal clerks has been lifted for this year. It's cool to be a federal clerk again! Well, it's cool to be a federal clerk on a two-year or long term clerkship, again. But maybe only for this moment. Austerity could rear her ugly head right around the corner....

MEMORANDUM — RE: APPROVAL OF FINAL FISCAL YEAR 2012 FINANCIAL PLANS AND LIFTING OF FREEZE ON PROMOTIONS, STEP INCREASES, AND CASH AWARDS

On February 1, 2012, the Executive Committee approved final fiscal year 2012 financial plans for the Salaries and Expenses, Defender Services, Court Security, and Fees of Jurors and Commissioners account. These plans are based on the enacted fiscal year 2012 appropriations from Congress. Within the Salaries and Expenses account, the final plan provides approximately 4 percent more funding to the courts than the interim fiscal year 2012 financial plan, although it still provides less funding (approximately 5 percent less) than what was provided to the courts in fiscal year 2011. The plans also fund our current requirements in the Defender Services, Court Security, and Fees of Jurors and Commissioners accounts. The Administrative Office will be issuing final allotments to the courts and to Federal Defender Organizations beginning February 3, 2012, along with accompanying guidance.

Because Congress provided the Judiciary with more funding than what was assumed for the interim financial plans, the Executive Committee has lifted the freeze on promotions, step increases, and cash awards that was implemented at the beginning of the fiscal year. In the next few days the Office of Human Resources will issue guidance regarding how this change will be implemented, including effective dates for default steps that were delayed under the interim financial plan.

Although the final outcome for fiscal year 2012 was better than what we had planned, courts should continue to exercise great caution in the expenditure of their local funds. We have every reason to believe that fiscal year 2013 will be another difficult budget year. If Congress provides the Salaries and Expenses account with the same level of funding in fiscal year 2013 as they provided in this account for fiscal year 2012 (a likely and perhaps “best-case” outcome), this would represent the third year in a row of essentially no growth in appropriations. If this were to occur, actual funding for the courts in fiscal year 2013 would continue to decline, perhaps by as much as 7 percent below fiscal year 2012 levels. Courts should plan for such an outcome when making their local funding decisions, including decisions impacting on-board personnel and their salaries, filling new positions, or backfilling existing positions. Aggressive cost-containment measures, both nationally and locally, continue to be essential to our ability to maintain the Judiciary’s core mission in this restrained budget climate.

Earlier: Federal Law Clerks: No Pay Raise for You!

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