[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 200 (Tuesday, October 18, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-25697]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: October 18, 1994]


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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
5 CFR Part 531

RIN 3206-AG39

 

Pay Under the General Schedule; Locality-Based Comparability 
Payments

agency: Office of Personnel Management.

action: Proposed rule with request for comments.

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summary: The Office of Personnel Management is issuing proposed 
regulations to remove six metropolitan areas from the ``Rest of U.S.'' 
locality pay area and establish six new locality pay areas 
corresponding to these metropolitan areas. These proposed changes are 
based on a recommendation of the Federal Salary Council and are subject 
to certain conditions set forth by the Council for the purpose of 
applying locality-based comparability payments in January 1995 under 
the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990. The purpose of 
this notice is to solicit public comments on the boundaries of locality 
pay areas recommended by the Federal Salary Council before the 
President's Pay Agent makes a final determination on this matter.

dates: Comments must be received on or before November 17, 1994.

addresses: Comments may be sent or delivered to Donald J. Winstead, 
Acting Assistant Director for Compensation Policy, Personnel Systems 
and Oversight Group, Office of Personnel Management, Room 6H31, 1900 E 
Street NW., Washington, DC 20415.

for further information contact: Donald J. Winstead, (202) 606-2880.

supplementary information: Section 5304(a)(1) of title 5, United States 
Code, provides that comparability payments shall be payable within each 
locality determined to have a pay disparity greater than 5 percent. 
Section 5304(f)(1) authorizes the President's Pay Agent (consisting of 
the Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM)) to provide for such pay localities as the Pay Agent considers 
appropriate. In so doing, the Pay Agent must give thorough 
consideration to the views and recommendations of the Federal Salary 
Council, a body composed of experts in the fields of labor relations 
and pay and representatives of Federal employee organizations. Members 
of the Federal Salary Council are appointed by the President and meet 
regularly to consider issues related to the locality pay system for 
General Schedule employees.
    For the 1994 locality payments, the Federal Salary Council 
recommended establishing a total of 28 locality pay areas. These 
consisted of 27 areas corresponding to Metropolitan Statistical Areas 
(MSA's) or Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSA's), 
including ``areas of application'' contiguous to 2 CMSA's, plus 1 area 
composed of the ``Rest of U.S.'' (i.e., those portions of the 48 
contiguous States not located within another locality pay area). MSA's 
and CMSA's are defined by OMB. After reviewing public comments on this 
proposal, the Pay Agent adopted the Federal Salary Council's 
recommendations on locality pay areas in their entirety. (See 58 FR 
69169, December 30, 1993, and 5 CFR 531.603(b).)
    On September 20, 1994, the Federal Salary Council presented its 
recommendations to the Pay Agent concerning the areas in which 
locality-based comparability payments should be paid beginning in 
January 1995. The Council recommended the removal of six metropolitan 
areas from the ``Rest of U.S.'' locality pay area and the establishment 
of six new locality pay areas corresponding to these metropolitan 
areas. The MSA's and CMSA's affected by this recommendation are the 
following: (1) Albuquerque, NM; (2) Columbus, OH; (3) Miami-Fort 
Lauderdale, FL; (4) New Orleans, LA; (5) Portland-Salem, OR-WA; and (6) 
Richmond-Petersburg, VA. As noted in the Council's memorandum to the 
Pay Agent, these six metropolitan areas are those in which the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics conducted additional local salary surveys in 1993-
94 at the direction of the Pay Agent. These 6 new locality pay areas 
would be in addition to the 28 locality pay areas established for the 
1994 locality payments.
    In its memorandum to the Pay Agent, the Federal Salary Council 
noted that the pay disparities (between Federal and non-Federal pay 
rates for the same levels of work) in the 6 recommended new areas and 
the 27 previously established locality pay areas corresponding to 
MSA's/CMSA's cannot be determined at this time because some of the data 
needed to make this determination are not yet available. The Council 
further stated its belief that any area in which the pay disparity is 
2/10ths of a percentage point or more below the pay disparity for 
``Rest of U.S.'' should be dropped as a separate pay locality and 
combined with ``Rest of U.S.'' Thus, it is possible that once all of 
the data needed to make this determination become available, one or 
more of the areas listed in Sec. 531.603(b) of this proposed rule may 
not meet the test recommended by the Federal Salary Council.
    The Federal Salary Council's memorandum to the Pay Agent also noted 
that the identification of ``areas of application''--i.e., areas 
contiguous to an MSA or CMSA that are included in the corresponding pay 
locality for locality pay purposes--has received considerable attention 
by the Council. During the past year, the Council has received requests 
covering 10 separate geographic areas for removal from the ``Rest of 
U.S.'' locality pay area and inclusion in one of the remaining 27 
locality pay areas with higher rates.
    After carefully considering the application of the criteria 
developed for the 1994 locality payments and the possibility of 
revising these criteria, the Council has determined that it continues 
to be in the best interest of the locality pay program to use the same 
criteria applied by the Council last year for ``areas of application.'' 
Although the criteria applied by the Council for the January 1994 
locality payments remain the same in substance, the Council's 
memorandum to the Pay Agent included a clarification of the criterion 
that makes use of Census Bureau data on commuting patterns for the 
purpose of determining ``economic linkage'' with a pay locality. (See 
item A.4., below.) The criteria applied by the Federal Salary Council 
in making its recommendations on ``areas of application'' for the 
January 1995 locality payments, as stated in an attachment to the 
Council's memorandum of September 20, 1994, are as follows:

Criteria for Recommendation as Areas of Application to Pay Localities

    A. County-wide areas of application. To be considered, the affected 
county must,
    1. Be contiguous to a pay locality
    2. Contain at least 2,000 GS-GM employees
    3. Have a significant level of urbanization, based on 1990 Census 
data. A ``significant level of urbanization'' is defined as a 
population density of more than 200 per square mile or at least 90 
percent of the population in urbanized areas.
    4. Demonstrate some economic linkage with the pay locality, defined 
as commuting at a level of 5 percent or more into or from the areas in 
question. The areas in question are the contiguous county under 
consideration and the central counties (or in the case of New England, 
the central cores) identified by the Census Bureau for the process of 
defining the CMSA's or MSA's involved.
    B. Federal facilities crossing pay locality boundaries. To be 
included in the pay locality the portion of a federal facility which 
crosses pay locality boundaries and which is not in the pay locality 
must,
     Have at least 1,000 GS-GM employees,
     Have the duty station(s) of the majority of GS-GM 
employees within 10 miles of the prime critical survey boundary area, 
and
     Have a significant number of its employees commuting from 
the pay locality.
    Based on the criteria developed by the Federal Salary Council for 
the January 1994 locality-based comparability payments, the Council 
recommended in August 1993 that Santa Barbara County, CA, be considered 
as an ``area of application'' within the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange 
County, CA, locality pay area and that St. Mary's County, MD, be 
considered as an ``area of application'' within the Washington-
Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV, locality pay area under the criteria for 
county-wide areas of application. In addition, the Council recommended 
that the portion of Edwards Air Force Base, CA, which lies outside the 
Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA be considered as an ``area 
of application'' within the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA, 
locality pay area under the criteria for Federal facilities crossing 
pay locality boundaries. As noted above, the Pay Agent accepted these 
recommendations in their entirety.
    The Federal Salary Council's recommendation to the Pay Agent for 
the January 1995 locality payments relies on the same criteria applied 
by the Council for the previous year, as clarified above. The Council 
has determined that no additional counties or Federal facilities meet 
these criteria. Based on the Council's recommendation, the proposed 
regulations do not include any new ``areas of application'' within the 
locality pay areas listed in Sec. 531.603(b).
    After the 30-day public comment period on these proposed 
regulations, the Pay Agent will consider the comments received from 
Federal employees, agencies, employee organizations, and other 
interested parties before making its determination on the establishment 
of pay localities. The Pay Agent also will consider any additional 
views and recommendations expressed directly to the Pay Agent by any 
member of the Federal Salary Council or by employee organizations not 
represented on the Council. The final regulations issued by OPM will 
reflect the Pay Agent's final determination on this matter.

E.O. 12866, Regulatory Review

    This rule has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget 
in accordance with E.O. 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that these regulations would not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they 
would apply only to Federal agencies and employees.

List of Subjects 5 CFR Part 531

    Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Wages.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
James B. King,
Director.

    Accordingly, OPM is proposing to amend part 531 of title 5, Code of 
Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 531--PAY UNDER THE GENERAL SCHEDULE

    1. The authority citation for part 531 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5115, 5307, 5338; sec. 4 of Pub. L. 103-89, 
107 Stat. 981; and E.O. 12748, 56 FR 4521, February 4, 1991, 3 CFR 
1991 Comp., p. 316;

    Subpart A also issued under section 302 of the Federal Employees 
Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA), Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 
1462; 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, and 5553; and E.O. 12786, 56 FR 67453, 
December 30, 1991, 3 CFR 1991 Comp., p. 376;
    Subpart B also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5303(g), 5333, 5334(a), and 
7701(b)(2);
    Subpart C also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, 5553; sections 
302 and 404 of FEPCA, Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 1462 and 1466; and 
section 3(7) of Pub. L. 102-378 (October 2, 1992), 106 Stat. 1356;
    Subpart D also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5335(g) and 7701(b)(2);
    Subpart E also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5336;
    Subpart F also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305(g)(1), and 5553; 
and E.O. 12883, 58 FR 63281, November 29, 1993, 3 CFR 1993 Comp., p. 
682.

Subpart F--Locality-Based Comparability Payments

    2. In Sec. 531.603, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 531.603  Locality pay areas.

* * * * *
    (b) The following are locality pay areas for the purpose of this 
subpart:
    (1) Albuquerque, NM--consisting of the Albuquerque, NM MSA;
    (2) Atlanta, GA--consisting of the Atlanta, GA MSA;
    (3) Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT--consisting of the 
Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA;
    (4) Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI--consisting of the Chicago-Gary-
Kenosha, IL-IN-WI CMSA;
    (5) Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN--consisting of the Cincinnati-
Hamilton, OH-KY-IN CMSA;
    (6) Cleveland-Akron, OH--consisting of the Cleveland-Akron, OH 
CMSA;
    (7) Columbus, OH--consisting of the Columbus, OH MSA;
    (8) Dallas-Fort Worth, TX--consisting of the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 
CMSA;
    (9) Dayton-Springfield, OH--consisting of the Dayton-Springfield, 
OH MSA;
    (10) Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO--consisting of the Denver-Boulder-
Greeley, CO CMSA;
    (11) Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI--consisting of the Detroit-Ann 
Arbor-Flint, MI CMSA;
    (12) Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX--consisting of the Houston-
Galveston-Brazoria, TX CMSA;
    (13) Huntsville, AL--consisting of the Huntsville, AL MSA;
    (14) Indianapolis, IN--consisting of the Indianapolis, IN MSA;
    (15) Kansas City, MO-KS--consisting of the Kansas City, MO-KS MSA;
    (16) Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA--consisting of the Los 
Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA, plus Santa Barbara County, 
CA, and that portion of Edwards Air Force Base, CA, not located within 
the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA;
    (17) Memphis, TN-AR-MS MSA--consisting of the Memphis, TN-AR-MS 
MSA;
    (18) Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL--consisting of the Miami-Fort 
Lauderdale, FL CMSA;
    (19) New Orleans, LA--consisting of the New Orleans, LA MSA;
    (20) New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA--
consisting of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA 
CMSA;
    (21) Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC--consisting of the 
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC MSA;
    (22) Oklahoma City, OK--consisting of the Oklahoma City, OK MSA;
    (23) Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD--consisting 
of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD CMSA;
    (24) Portland-Salem, OR-WA--consisting of the Portland-Salem, OR-WA 
CMSA;
    (25) Richmond-Petersburg, VA--consisting of the Richmond-
Petersburg, VA MSA;
    (26) Sacramento-Yolo, CA--consisting of the Sacramento-Yolo, CA 
CMSA;
    (27) St. Louis, MO-IL--consisting of the St. Louis, MO-IL MSA;
    (28) Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT--consisting of the Salt Lake City-
Ogden, UT MSA;
    (29) San Antonio, TX--consisting of the San Antonio, TX MSA;
    (30) San Diego, CA--consisting of the San Diego, CA MSA;
    (31) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA--consisting of the San 
Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA;
    (32) Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA--consisting of the Seattle-
Tacoma-Bremerton, WA CMSA;
    (33) Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV--consisting of the 
Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV CMSA, plus St. Mary's County, MD; and
    (34) Rest of U.S.--consisting of those portions of the continental 
United States not located within another locality pay area.

[FR Doc. 94-25697 Filed 10-17-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-01-M