U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Across-The-Board and Locality Adjustments

Under FEPCA, General Schedule salary adjustments, beginning in January 1994, consist of two components: (1) a general increase linked to the Employment Cost Index and applicable to the General Schedule, Foreign Service pay schedules, and certain pay schedules established under title 38, United States Code, for Veterans Health Administration employees; and (2) a General Schedule locality adjustment that applies only to specific areas of the continental United States where non-Federal pay exceeds Federal pay by more than 5 percent.

The formula for the general increase (defined in section 5303 of title 5, United States Code) provides that the pay rates for each statutory pay system be increased by a percentage equal to the 12-month percentage increase in the ECI, minus one-half of one percentage point. The 12-month reference period ends with the September preceding the effective date of the adjustment by 15 months.

The ECI reference period for the January 2008 increase is the 12-month period ending on September 30, 2006. During that period, the ECI increased by 3.0 percent. Therefore, the January 2008 general increase, if granted, would be 2.5 percent (3.0 percent minus 0.5 percentage points).

The locality component of the pay adjustment under FEPCA was to be phased in over a 9-year period. In 1994, the minimum comparability increase was two-tenths of the "target" pay disparity (i.e., the amount needed to reduce the pay disparity to 5 percent according to the methodology required by current law). For each successive year, the comparability increase was scheduled to be at least an additional one-tenth of the "target" pay disparity. For 2002 and thereafter, the law authorized the full amount necessary to reduce the pay disparity in each locality pay area to 5 percent. However, the schedule under FEPCA has not been followed. By 2006 for example, only 62.7 percent of the "target" disparity was closed, on average, due to separate legislation or the President's alternative plan.