Diluting pay raises

Good pay vibes for federal workers in Burlington, Vermont and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk area. Not so good news for government workers in D.C.-Baltimore , New York, L.A.-San Francisco, Houston and two dozen other cities that have their own, higher, locality pay scales.

The Federal Salary Council last week voted to allow the Vermont and Virginia cities to setup their own locality pay zone. Congress has the final say on whether they will be allowed to set up their own locality pay areas in 2017 or will remain in the lower-wage RUS (rest of U.S.) locality area.

In January, the locality pay system will get 13 new or expanded zones that will move 103,000 feds into the better-paying locality areas.

Many lucky federal workers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore will join the higher-paying Washington-Baltimore locality system. Feds in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will move into the Harrisburg locality zone. The 2016 and 2017 changes, if approved, could mean slightly higher pay raises in future for those employees.

But there is a downside to expanding locality areas and moving more people into existing locality areas. An internal OPM report noted that “if a percent of the total GS payroll is allocated for locality pay increases, the addition to new areas could result in a smaller amount to allocate for locality pay increases in existing areas.” Bottom line, OPM said, is that the 13 newly approved areas could “result in relatively lower pay increases for employees in existing locality pay area than they would otherwise receive.”

For more on the impact on locality pay for the January 2016 raise, click here.

For the changes OK’d by the council last week, click here.

Health Plan Confusion

Can you afford a $2,000 pay cut next year? Probably not. But that’s what you could be facing if you pick the wrong health plan during the open season that started this week.

All the federal health plans are good, but some are just too expensive for the protection you get. So how do you find the one plan for you? Listen to Your Turn on Wednesday, at 10 a.m. Our guest is Walton Francis, the man who (literally) wrote the book on health plan best buys. Since the Nov. 11 is a holiday, for many, you can listen at home on your computer. Folks in the D.C. area also have the option of catching the show on 1500 AM. Listen if you can. If you have questions for Walt, or me, email them to me at : mcausey@federalnewsradio.com. Or call in during showtime.

And good hunting!

Editor’s Note: Veterans Day is coming up, but the Marine Corps, which prides itself on getting there first, is celebrating its 240^th birthday today. Thanks to Gunny for the reminder. Semper Fi folks.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

The next time someone talks about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, keep in mind that the average mountain gorilla weighs between 300 to 485 pounds.

Source: National Geographic

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