Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
So did you actually get this, or is this what you heard? This is the first I've heard of it.
UASIT is correct. I've seen this happen a few times, although I think the bosses hiring them went after the higher step because the new hire was making more elsewhere. From what I understand, the boss just has to justify the step increase. This also can happen if transferring from agency to agency. One of our Airmen was a GS-11 in the military and was hired into a federal agency to a GS-9 position. He was able to keep his GS-11 step X pay.
To put some of OPs post into context, Technician pilots in the Air Guard/Reserve are payed GS-12(13)-2181 which falls under special rate table 558. You can add 20-30k to these numbers for all the mil days they pull throughout the year.
General Pilot = GS-12 + 30% (~78k)
Instructor Pilot = GS-13 + 30% (~93k)
I believe certain positions, as you get to command level, may be GS-14.