Reed, Whitehouse, Warren & Markey Urge Correction of Cost-of-Living Pay Disparities
Thursday, February 20, 2020
U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), along with Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) are urging the correction of cost-of-living pay disparities for federal employees living in Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The Senators sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Dale Cabaniss asking the agency to address the disparities.
"We ask that you address the unfair and unnecessary wage disparities faced by our constituents by consolidating FWS (Federal Wage System) wage areas and aligning them with GS (General Schedule) locality pay areas," the senators wrote in their letter.
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The Senators are asking for a response to their letter by March 4, 2020.
Cost-of-Living Pay Disparities
Federal employees are compensated under one of two pay systems.
The General Schedule (GS) system covers the majority of civilian federal employees, usually in salaried positions, and provides a cost-of-living pay adjustment for workers based on 47 "pay locality areas."
The Federal Wage System (FWS) covers employees who are paid by the hour, and determines wages based on 248 "local wage areas."
According to the Senators, currently, federal employees covered by the GS system in 22 counties in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine are part of the Boston-Worcester-Providence locality pay area and receive a locality pay adjustment of 29.11%.
However, federal employees covered by the FWS in eight of these counties fall under the Narragansett Bay wage area, rather than the Boston wage area, and receive substantially less compensation to adjust for cost of living.
For instance, the current pay rate for most entry-level FWS employees in the Boston wage area is $13.86, compared with $12.88 in the Narragansett Bay wage area-despite the fact these employees would receive the same locality pay adjustment under the GS system.
The Senators concluded, "We respectfully request an update on your review of FPRAC's 2010 recommendation and again urge you to implement it and correct the unwarranted disparity faced by our FWS constituents as soon as possible."
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