Federal Government Policy and Business

Council Vote Would Give Thousands of Feds Bigger Locality Pay Adjustments

Government Executive: The Federal Salary Council, which makes recommendations to the White House on federal employee pay issues, suggested in its most recent report lowering the threshold for adding more areas to existing localities, which would effectively boost pay for more employees.

The council, made up union representatives and pay policy experts, said the number of General Schedule employees in an area has no bearing on the economic conditions there, and should therefore not be a factor in setting pay rates. Currently, an area that encompasses multiple counties must have at least 1,500 GS employees to join a locality pay area and an area in a single county must have at least 400 GS employees. FSC has previously recommended scrapping those employee thresholds, but the president’s pay agent, who makes final recommendations to the president, has rejected the proposal. (The president's pay agent is actually a body comprising the secretary of Labor and directors of the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget.)

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