Federal Government Policy and Business

Pay Agent Accepts New Localities, Rejects Giving Others Bigger Adjustments

Government Executive: The President’s Pay Agent, the final arbiter to make recommendations to the president on federal employee compensation, approved two new localities for 2018 but rejected a proposal that would have boosted salaries for workers living on the outskirts of existing pay areas.

As recommended by the Federal Salary Council, the pay agent approved of bringing feds located in Virginia Beach, Va., and Burlington, Vt., out of the “rest of United States” pay adjustment and into their own localities. Employees in specific pay localities receive larger annual adjustments to their base pay than do those in the “rest of U.S.” The salary council is made up of union representatives and other pay experts, while the pay agent consists of the Labor Department secretary and the directors of the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget.

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