Any measure enacted into law before year’s end would override the “alternative” raise proposed, although such a measure is uncommon. Image: Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffPresident Biden is likely to issue in the weeks ahead a letter to Congress stating his intent to set a January 2024 federal pay raise averaging 5.2 percent by default should Capitol Hill not enact a figure before the end of the year.
As in most prior years, Congress has been silent on the subject so far. Both the House and Senate versions of the spending bill where they would address a raise—the general government measure—contain no language on one. With Congress on recess until after Labor Day, there will be no action ahead of an August 31 deadline under a 1990 law on pay-setting procedures.
That law states that if a raise for the following year hasn’t been enacted by the end of August, the President may issue by the end of that month a letter setting an “alternative” raise—“alternative” to the much larger raise that would take effect by default if nothing were to be enacted by year’s end. Under the calculation by Federal Salary Council last fall, that would be above 24 percent.
That letter in almost all cases has repeated the raise proposal the President originally made in the early-year budget message to Congress—in this case for 5.2 percent. That would be the largest raise since 1981. It also commonly includes a statement that paying a raise of the indicated size would be too costly and that agencies can offer incentive payments to address recruiting and retention problems caused by noncompetitive salary rates.
In media outlets not well versed in the workings of federal pay law, the August letter often is reported as finalizing the raise. However, any measure enacted into law before year’s end would override the “alternative” raise. Most commonly, though, Congress has consented to the President’s figure by remaining silent through the rest of the year and letting that figure take effect.
One issue still to be resolved involves dividing the raise between across the board and locality components. Typically most goes to the across the board part and the money for the rest is divided by locality according to Bureau of Labor Statistics comparisons of federal and private sector pay. That results in raises by locality several tenths of a percentage point above or below the average figure.
For 2024, rules have been proposed to create new localities in the Fresno, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Spokane, Wash., areas, and to expand the boundaries of most of the now-existing localities. That would provide an additional pay boost to some 33,000 employees by removing them from the lowest-paid locality, the catchall “rest of the U.S.” for areas outside city zones with their own pay rates, into an area with its own designated rate.
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