Annual Report of the President's Pay Agent for Locality Pay in 2021
REPORT ON LOCALITY-BASED COMPARABILITY PAYMENTS FOR THE GENERAL SCHEDULE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT’S PAY AGENT FOR LOCALITY PAY IN 2021 The President’s Pay Agent Washington, DC December 17, 2020 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Annual Report on General Schedule Locality-Based Comparability Payments Section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, requires the President’s Pay Agent, composed of the Secretary of Labor, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Director of the Office of Personnel Management, to submit a report each year showing the locality-based comparability payments we would recommend for General Schedule (GS) employees if the adjustments were to be made as specified in the statute. To fulfill this obligation, this report shows the adjustments that would be required in January 2021 under section 5304, had you not issued an alternative pay plan for January 2021 increases. The alternative plan limits the across- the-board base GS increase to 1.0 percent and holds 2021 locality pay percentages at their 2020 levels. However, we also note that the underlying methodology for locality pay, which relies on a singular locality rate to cover a locality pay area, has lacked credibility since the beginning of locality pay in 1994—to such a degree that the statutory formula for closing pay gaps has been overridden either by Congress or by successive Presidents each and every year since that first year. We appreciate the contributions of the Federal Salary Council, composed of experts in labor relations and pay policy and of employee organizations representing large numbers of GS employees, to the administration of the locality pay program, including the Council’s recommendations for locality pay in 2021, which are included in Appendix I of this report.
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