U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Distinguishing Between General Schedule and Federal Wage Systems Work

This section provides guidance to determine the appropriate pay category of positions (i.e., General Schedule or Federal Wage System) based on the official record of duties and responsibilities assigned to a position or group of positions.

1. 5 U.S.C. 5102 (c)(7) exempts from coverage under the General Schedule those "employees in recognized trades or crafts, or other skilled mechanical crafts, or in unskilled, semiskilled, or skilled manual-labor occupations, and other employees including foremen and supervisors in positions having trade, craft, or laboring experience and knowledge as the paramount requirement…."
2. The "paramount requirement" of a position refers to the essential, prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the primary duty or responsibility for which the position has been established.  Whether particular types of positions are trade, craft, or manual-labor occupations within the meaning of Title 5 depends primarily on the facts of duties, responsibilities, and qualification requirements; i.e., the most important, or chief requirement for the performance of a primary duty or responsibility for which the position exists.  If a position clearly requires trade, craft, or manual-labor experience and knowledge as a requirement for the performance of its primary duty, and this requirement is paramount, the position is under the Federal Wage System regardless of its organizational location or the nature of the activity in which it exists.

1. A position is under the Federal Wage System if its primary duty involves the performance of physical work, which requires knowledge or experience of a trade, craft, or manual-labor nature.
2. A position is under the General Schedule System, even if it requires physical work, if its primary duty requires knowledge or experience of an administrative, clerical, scientific, artistic, or technical nature not related to trade, craft, or manual-labor work.

The special capabilities or qualifications of an employee do not influence pay category determinations.  You will find more detailed information in Section IV of the Introduction to the Position Classification Standards [571 kb].