The Federal Salary Council, a group of agency, union and outside experts on federal compensation matters, has scheduled a meeting for September 5 to consider whether certain locality pay zones should be changed or expanded.
In many years, agency management officials petition the group to add certain areas into adjacent higher-paying localities, arguing that they are losing employees not only to private sector employers but also to other agencies in the nearby locality. Recent proposals have included requests to split the Los Angeles locality into several, as well as to add certain areas in New York state to the New York locality.
The group makes locality zone decisions based on a set of criteria including commuting rates and other data, and the presenters typically are not able make the case that the areas they are advocating for qualify under those policies. The council several years ago, however, changed some of those policies in a way that allowed several of the localities to be expanded as requested.
The group has set a second meeting for September 28 at which the decisions likely will be announced.
