5 U.S.C. § 9503: Streamlined critical pay authority

require expertise of an extremely high level in an administrative, technical, or professional field; and are critical to the Internal Revenue Service’s successful accomplishment of an important mission; exercise of the authority is necessary to recruit or retain an individual exceptionally well qualified for the position; the number of such positions does not exceed 40 at any one time; designation of such positions are approved by the Secretary of the Treasury; the terms of such appointments are limited to no more than 4 years; appointees to such positions were not Internal Revenue Service employees prior to June 1, 1998 ; total annual compensation for any appointee to such positions does not exceed the highest total annual compensation payable at the rate determined under section 104 of title 3 ; and all such positions are excluded from the collective bargaining unit. Individuals appointed under this section shall not be considered to be employees for purposes of subchapter II of chapter 75.