The GL pay scale pays more than the GS pay scale at the same grade and step, but it only applies to federal law enforcement officers at grades 3 through 10. That is the whole GL vs. GS pay difference in one sentence. In 2026, a GL-5 step 1 officer earns a base salary of $42,919, while a GS-5 step 1 employee earns $34,799, a gap of $8,120 before locality pay is added.1U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Salary Table 2026-GS2U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Salary Table 2026-GL (LEO) Above grade 10, the GL designation disappears and pay reverts to the standard GS table.
What GL Actually Is
GL stands for “General Schedule Law Enforcement Officer.” OPM defines GL employees as those covered by the General Schedule classification system who are law enforcement officers receiving special base rates at grades 3 through 10 under Section 403 of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Pay Plans FEPCA is the legal authority behind the scale.
Congress built the GL rates by setting the minimum starting pay for each covered law enforcement grade at a higher step than where regular GS employees begin. Rather than starting a GL-5 officer at the equivalent of GS-5 step 1, the law pegged the minimum to a higher step on the GS-5 scale and shifted every other step up accordingly. The result is a separate pay table with higher rates at every step of grades 3 through 10. GL employees are still classified under the General Schedule for position classification, qualifications, step waiting periods, and everything else. The only difference is the base pay table they draw from.
How Much More GL Pays
The gap is largest at the lower grades and narrows as you move up. At grade 5, GL base pay runs roughly 23% above GS base pay. By GL-9 and GL-10, the percentage gap is smaller because the original FEPCA formula boosted the lowest grades most aggressively. Every GL grade from 3 through 10 still pays more than its GS equivalent at every step.
Two things sit on top of that base gap. First, every GS and GL employee receives a locality pay adjustment based on where they work, calculated as a percentage of base pay.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Salaries and Wages Because GL base pay is higher, the dollar amount of the locality adjustment is larger for a GL employee at the same grade and step. Second, some law enforcement positions have special salary rates that can exceed the locality-adjusted rate. When a special rate applies, the employee receives whichever figure is higher.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Law Enforcement Officer
Who Qualifies for GL Pay
Working near law enforcement is not enough. The GL scale applies only to employees whose positions meet the federal “law enforcement officer” definition under 5 U.S.C. § 5541(3), which ties back to the retirement definitions in 5 U.S.C. § 8401(17).6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5541 – Definitions Qualifying duties involve investigating or apprehending people suspected of federal offenses, detaining people convicted of federal crimes, or protecting federal officials from threats to their safety.7Legal Information Institute. 5 USC 8401 – Definitions The work must also be physically demanding enough that agencies generally limit hiring to younger applicants.
A 2026 OPM memo identifies more than a dozen occupational series eligible for law enforcement special rates. Common ones include series 1811 criminal investigators and special agents at agencies like the FBI, DEA, and various Inspectors General; series 0007 correctional officers in the Bureau of Prisons; series 0083 police officers including the Secret Service Uniformed Division and U.S. Park Police; series 0082 deputy U.S. Marshals; series 1896 Border Patrol agents; series 1895 CBP officers; and series 1801 positions including deportation officers and aviation enforcement agents.8U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2026 Special Rates for Certain Law Enforcement Personnel
The qualifying factor is always the nature of the duties, not the agency name. An analyst at the FBI who reviews financial records does not qualify for GL pay just because the FBI employs law enforcement officers.
What Happens Above Grade 10
There is no GL-11. When a law enforcement officer promotes to grade 11 or higher, the pay plan code on their paperwork changes from GL to GS, and they are paid from the standard GS table for grades 11 through 15.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Pay Plans
This transition does not cut pay. The maximum payable rate rule lets agencies set pay based on the employee’s highest previous rate, so a newly promoted GS-11 can be placed at a step that reflects their GL-10 earnings rather than defaulting to GS-11 step 1.9U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Maximum Payable Rate Rule In practice, most officers see a raise on promotion because the GS-11 pay range sits above the GL-10 ceiling. The prefix change is administrative.
Availability Pay for Criminal Investigators
Criminal investigators on the GL or GS scale often receive an additional 25% on top of base pay through Law Enforcement Availability Pay, or LEAP.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5545a – Availability Pay for Criminal Investigators It is not traditional overtime. It compensates investigators for being available to work unscheduled duty on short notice, with the expectation that they will average at least two hours of unscheduled duty per regular workday over the year.11U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Availability Pay
LEAP applies specifically to criminal investigators, typically in the 1811 series, not to every position on the GL scale. A correctional officer or uniformed police officer generally does not receive LEAP, though they may earn overtime under other provisions.
Retirement Is Where the Real Gap Sits
The base pay difference is meaningful, but the retirement side is where GL/LEO positions pull further ahead of standard GS jobs over a career. Under the Federal Employees Retirement System, the pension formula for law enforcement officers uses a 1.7% multiplier for each of the first 20 years of covered service, then 1% for every year after that.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8415 – Computation of Basic Annuity Regular FERS employees use a 1% multiplier for most of their career, rising to 1.1% only if they retire at 62 or older with at least 20 years.
Do the math on 20 years of service. A law enforcement officer retires with a pension worth 34% of their high-three average salary. A standard GS employee with the same 20 years receives 20%. That gap compounds over decades of retirement payments.
LEOs also retire earlier. They can retire at age 50 with 20 years of law enforcement service, or at any age with 25 years of such service.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8412 – Immediate Retirement Officers who retire before age 62 receive a temporary annuity supplement that bridges to Social Security. The tradeoff: LEOs pay about 0.5% of pay more than regular employees in FERS contributions throughout their career. LEOs also face mandatory separation at age 57 once they have 20 years of covered service, with agency-head discretion to extend to 60.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8335 – Mandatory Separation
GL vs. GS at a Glance
- Pay table: GL uses a separate, higher base pay table for grades 3 through 10. GS uses the standard table for all 15 grades.
- Eligibility: GL requires a position meeting the federal law enforcement officer definition. GS is the default for all other covered positions.
- Grade range: GL covers grades 3 through 10 only. At grade 11 and above, all employees revert to GS.
- Step increases: Identical waiting periods for both pay plans.
- Locality pay: Applies to both, but the dollar adjustment is larger for GL because it is a percentage of a larger base.
- Availability pay: The 25% LEAP premium goes to criminal investigators specifically, not to every GL position.
- Retirement: GL/LEO positions qualify for a 1.7% pension multiplier on the first 20 years, earlier retirement eligibility, and mandatory separation at 57.
The GL designation is narrower than it first looks. It changes the base pay table for a specific slice of grades and a specific set of duties. Everything else about the job, from classification standards to promotion procedures to the locality formula, follows the same General Schedule rules that cover every other federal civilian employee.