CPM 2000-17
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United States Office of Personnel Management |
December 1, 2000
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MEMORANDUM FOR HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTORS | |
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FROM: |
HENRY ROMERO |
SUBJECT: |
Draft Salary Tables and Locality Pay Area Definitions for January 2001 |
This memorandum provides draft 2001 annual salary tables for the General Schedule (GS)—including draft locality pay tables for each of the 32 GS locality pay areas and for law enforcement officers in each of those areas—and draft special rate tables for certain information technology (IT) workers. The rates of pay shown in these draft salary tables will not be official until the President issues an Executive order later this year to implement the 2001 pay increase, but these rates may be used by agencies for payroll planning purposes. When the President issues his Executive order, we will issue the official salary tables for GS employees, Executive Schedule officials, the Senior Executive Service, employees in senior-level and scientific or professional positions, administrative law judges, and Contract Appeals Board members.
In January 2001, the GS rates of basic pay will increase by an across-the-board amount of 2.7 percent under 5 U.S.C. 5303. On November 30, the President transmitted to Congress an alternative plan for GS locality-based comparability payments in January 2001 (attachment 1). In his alternative plan, the President authorized an overall average increase in the current GS locality rates equal to approximately 1 percent of the GS payroll. The combined effect of these two pay adjustments produces an overall average pay increase of about 3.7 percent for most GS employees. Attachment 2 shows the locality pay percentage authorized for January 2001 and the net pay increase (including the 2.7 percent across-the-board pay increase) for GS employees in each locality pay area.
The draft 2001 General Schedule and draft 2001 locality pay tables for the 32 locality pay areas are available on the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) web site at http://www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm. These new rates of pay will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2001.
The President's Pay Agent (the Secretary of Labor and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget and OPM) have authorized 32 locality pay areas for 2001, including the "Rest of U.S." locality pay area. Based on recommendations of the Federal Salary Council, the Pay Agent approved new "areas of application" for the San Francisco and Boston locality pay areas in 2001. Monterey County, CA, will be included in the San Francisco locality pay area, and the State of Rhode Island will be included in the Boston locality pay area. In addition, the Pay Agent has determined that certain portions of Bristol County, MA (known collectively as the Attleboro-Fall River area), also should be added to the Boston locality pay area, so that all of Bristol County will be included in that area.
The new locality pay area definitions will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2001. Final regulations making the changes described above will be published in the Federal Register shortly and will be posted on OPM's web site as soon as possible thereafter. OPM also will post a comprehensive list of locality pay area definitions on the web site at the same time.
The draft special salary rate table for LEOs (Table No. 491) and draft LEO locality pay tables for each of the 32 locality pay areas are available on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm. The new LEO pay rates will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2001.
These LEO pay tables incorporate the statutory Governmentwide law enforcement special rates for grades GS-3 through GS-10, which are used as the basis for computing any locality or other geographic payment. While LEOs are entitled to the same locality pay percentages that apply to other GS employees, special LEO geographic pay adjustments of 16 percent continue to apply to LEOs in three metropolitan areas: New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. (Note: The locality pay percentage for San Francisco in 2001 (16.98 percent) is higher than the special LEO geographic pay adjustment of 16 percent. Therefore, LEOs in the San Francisco locality pay area—including those in Monterey County, CA—will receive the higher locality pay percentage.)
Because the State of Rhode Island and part of Bristol County, MA, will be included as areas of application to the Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT-RI locality pay area in January 2001, we will issue two separate locality pay tables for LEOs in the Boston locality pay area. Salary Table 2001-BOS (LEO-1) will cover LEOs in the Boston Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), while Salary Table 2001-BOS (LEO-2) will cover LEOs in the State of Rhode Island and the Attleboro-Fall River area of Bristol County, MA. (Note: This situation is analogous to the situation in the Los Angeles locality pay area, where a separate locality pay table will continue to apply to LEOs outside the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA.)
On November 3, OPM announced the establishment of special salary rates for certain IT workers. The new IT special rates will cover all GS-334 (computer specialist), GS-854 (computer engineer), and GS-1550 (computer scientist) positions at grades GS-5/7/9/11/12 Governmentwide.
As explained in a previous memorandum (CPM 2000-14, November 3, 2000), OPM will establish six IT special salary rate schedules, each covering a group or "cluster" of geographic areas. One of the six IT special rate schedules (Table 999A) will apply to all geographic areas outside the 48 contiguous States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and all overseas areas, where employees do not receive GS locality payments. The remaining five IT special rate schedules (Tables 999B, 999C, 999D, 999E, and 999F) will apply to covered employees within the 48 contiguous States and Washington, DC. These five "clusters" are defined according to the boundaries of the 32 GS locality pay areas.
The draft 2001 special salary rate tables for IT workers are available on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm. For the purpose of within-grade increases and promotions, please note that unlike most other special rate tables, the dollar value varies for each within-grade increase at each grade of each IT special rate table. In addition, please note that special rates will be established for grade GS-13 on each special rate table except Table 999A. (These special rates are shown in italics.) The IT special rates at GS-13 are lower than the corresponding locality rates of pay in all 32 locality pay areas. Therefore, covered employees will receive the higher locality pay rate in all cases. The new IT special rates will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2001.
Agencies should process a pay adjustment action for each employee covered by the new IT special rate schedules. Agencies should document the establishment of special rates using nature of action code 894, Pay Adjustment. Agencies must use legal authority code QHP and legal authority "Reg 530.306(a)(1)" as the first legal authority, except for employees on pay retention. For employees on pay retention, agencies must use legal authority code QJP and legal authority "Reg 530.306(a)(2)." As the second legal authority on all actions, use ZLM and cite the OPM memorandum transmitting the official 2001 salary tables. Change the pay rate determinant to "6" to indicate a special rate. (In cases where the special rate applies to an employee on grade retention, the pay rate determinant changes to either "E" or "F.") In the remarks section, agencies should add remark P05 – "Special rate under 5 U.S.C. 5305." The rules for processing GS pay actions can be found in table 17-A of The Guide to Processing Personnel Actions. The Guide is available on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/feddata/gppa/gppa17.pdf.
We have not yet completed the annual review of existing special salary rates. However, based on agency submissions received to date, we expect that virtually all special rate schedules will be adjusted by 2.7 percent in January 2001. We will issue additional guidance to agencies as soon as the annual review is completed.
For further information, please contact OPM's Pay and Leave Administration Division by email at payleave@opm.gov.
Web page created 1 December 2000