{
  "id": "RL31823",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31823",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101560,
      "date": "2004-04-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:16:54.310559",
      "title": "Federal White-Collar Pay: FY2004 Salary Adjustments",
      "summary": "Federal white-collar employees are to receive an annual pay adjustment and a locality-based\ncomparability payment, effective in January of each year, under Section 529 of  P.L. 101-509 , the\nFederal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990. In January 2004, they received a 1.5%\nannual pay adjustment and a 0.5% locality-based comparability payment under Executive Order\n13322, issued by President George W. Bush on December 30, 2003.  P.L. 108-199 , enacted on\nJanuary 23, 2004, provides a 4.1% pay adjustment for 2004. Under the law, an additional 2.1% pay\nadjustment, allocated as an average 1.2% annual and 0.9% locality, was provided to federal civilian\nemployees under Executive Order 13332, issued by the President on March 3, 2004. OPM published\nrevised salary tables for 2004 on its website the next day. Although the federal pay adjustments are\nsometimes referred to as cost-of-living adjustments, neither the annual adjustment nor the locality\npayment is based on measures of the cost of living.\n  The annual pay adjustment is based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures\nchange in private-sector wages and salaries. The index showed that the annual across-the-board\nincrease would be 2.7% in January 2004. The size of the locality payment is determined by the\nPresident, and is based on a comparison of non-federal and General Schedule (GS) salaries in 32 pay\nareas nationwide. By law, the disparity between non-federal and federal salaries was to be gradually\nreduced to 5% over the years 1994 through 2002; FEPCA requires that amounts payable may not be\nless than the full amount necessary to reduce the pay disparity to 5% in January 2004. The Federal\nSalary Council and the Pay Agent recommended that the 2004 locality payments range from 19.45%\nin the \"Rest of the United States\" (RUS) pay area to 47.64% in the San Francisco pay area. The\npayment recommended for the Washington, DC, pay area was 28.78%. Because the new locality\nrate replaces the existing locality rate, the change in locality rates is derived by comparing 2003\nlocality payments with those recommended for 2004. This comparison resulted in recommended\nincreases in locality rates from 2003 to 2004 of 11.90% in the RUS pay area to 25.23% in the San\nFrancisco pay area, and 17.31% in the Washington, DC, pay area. The nationwide average net pay\nincrease, if the ECI and locality-based comparability payments were granted as stipulated in FEPCA,\nwould have been 15.15%. President Bush proposed a 2.0% federal civilian pay adjustment in his\nFY2004 budget. On August 27, 2003, he issued an alternative plan to provide the 2.0% adjustment\nin January 2004.  H.R. 2989 , the Departments of Transportation and Treasury and\nIndependent Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2004, as passed by the House of Representatives and the\nSenate, and as incorporated in  H.R. 2673 , the Consolidated Appropriations Act for\nFY2004, provides a 4.1% pay adjustment for federal civilian employees. H.R.  2673 was\nenacted as  P.L. 108-199 .\n  FEPCA has never been implemented as originally enacted. Since 1995, locality payments have\nbeen much lower than FEPCA requires. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys\ndocumenting non-federal rates of pay were not approved for use in determining the 2000, 2001,\n2002, and 2003 locality payments. A phase-in of BLS survey data was approved for 2004.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL31823",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}