OPM to finish formulating guidelines that will standardize General Schedule and wage maps for blue-collar positions in localities.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has finalized a significant change in the regulations for the Federal Wage System (FWS), aiming to address pay disparities among federal employees. Approximately 15,000 employees are expected to see their pay increase due to these changes, while around 2,000 may move into a lower wage schedule.
The new regulations standardize locality pay rates for federal workers, affecting both white-collar and blue-collar employees across the United States. This move addresses the pay inequity that exists between blue-collar workers, their General Schedule counterparts, and in some cases, their FWS coworkers.
The rule changes, proposed last October, have been in the works for some time. They aim to resolve several of the thorniest issues on the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee's agenda, including those related to specific geographic areas such as the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania.
The changes will impact around 17,000 FWS employees nationwide. The pay inequity arises from FWS workers within a given General Schedule (GS) locality pay area being paid from multiple wage schedules, while GS employees are paid from the same salary schedule.
The map of locality pay areas for the General Schedule is reevaluated annually to account for shifting labor markets. On the other hand, the map of wage areas for the Federal Wage System is based on a map of domestic military installations after World War II. FWS employees are paid based on a government formula measuring the "prevailing wage" for similar private sector work in their wage area.
President Biden has expressed support for these changes, stating that the administration is working to ensure that all Americans have a fair shot and no one is left behind, specifically addressing the pay disparity for workers hired under the Federal Wage System.
Congress has also shown openness to standardizing the pay systems' maps, expressing this sentiment in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The change will be published in the Federal Register on January 21. However, OPM did not respond to questions regarding whether it has briefed transition officials for President-elect Trump on the rule change, which is set for publication after Trump's inauguration and will not take effect until October 1.
These changes mark a significant step towards ensuring fair pay for all federal employees, addressing long-standing issues that have been a concern for federal employee groups for years.
