In preparation for the President’s Pay Agent annual report to the President on locality pay, the Federal Salary Council asked FMA for input related to its recommendations for 2025. FMA submitted a response on April 10.

FMA expressed support for the current recommendations on the establishment or modification of pay localities, the coverage of salary surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for use in the locality pay program, the process of comparing General Schedule (GS) pay to non-federal pay, and the level of comparability payments for January 2025.

The association also expressed a concern regarding pay that many FMA members have raised dating to the summer of 2023. Federal Wage System (FWS) employees at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and elsewhere, received a major boost in pay effective with the 7-16-2023 pay period. We recognize this is a great win for those federal employees and are certainly pleased for them to receive what they deserve. We also know FWS employees’ pay rates are determined by survey studies, compared to how the rates for General Schedule employees are determined.

However, it has caused great concern among a growing number of our GS members who have non-GS employees who work for them and are now earning higher compensation. We have heard a number of stories of feds not accepting promotions because they would earn more in their current position. Others, who recently accepted promotions, regret their decisions because they would have earned more at their prior level had they not been “promoted.” In some instances, employees are earning $6-$8 more per hour than their direct supervisors.

While this is the most recent example, we are aware of similar circumstances elsewhere across the country, including at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) in New Hampshire, Fleet Readiness Center-Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida, and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. At PNS, the new FWS rates went into effect based on specific trades and job series, and there is concern the different increases among the different trades will cause resentment impacting recruitment and retention.

FMA urged the Federal Salary Council to oversee all three pay scales of the federal workforce to ensure they are in line with each other and to prevent further instances of the above scenarios.