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GAO-11-772R 1 (2011-06-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanyx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GA 0 A blty I ntegW ly IReIability June 30, 2011 The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives Subject: Department of State Overseas Comparability Pay Dear Madam Chairman: The Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990 established locality pay to achieve pay comparability between federal and nonfederal jobs within the United States.' Because FEPCA established pay localities only for areas within the United States, federal employees permanently stationed overseas, including members of the Foreign Service, did not receive locality pay. As the Washington, D.C., locality rate grew to over 24 percent in 2010, the pay gap between federal employees who receive locality pay and those who do not widened considerably. To close this gap, the fiscal year 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act2 granted the Department of State (State) temporary authority to provide locality pay at the Washington, D.C., rate, also known as Overseas Comparability Pay, to Foreign Service personnel posted overseas. State is implementing this pay in three phases.4 Currently, Foreign Service personnel serving overseas receive 16.52 percent comparability pay, approximately two- thirds of the Washington, D.C., locality rate. State had planned to implement the third and final phase of comparability pay, raising it to 24.22 percent, in August 2011. However, these plans have been delayed by the administration's freeze on federal salaries and the passage of the Department of Defense and Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2011, which prohibited State from using funds to implement the final phase. In December 2010, the National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform identified comparability pay as a potential source of cost savings. Without a continuation of authority, State cannot continue to provide comparability pay with funds appropriated after fiscal year 2011. 'Pub. L. No. 101-509. FEPCA provides for a two-part annual pay adjustment for federal workers: an across-the-board pay adjustment and a locality pay adjustment that varies by pay locality. 2Pub. L. No. 111-32. Previous legislation eliminated the salary gap for all members of the Senior Foreign Service regardless of where they are stationed, so our discussion focuses on non-Senior members of the Foreign Service. 3In this report, we use the term comparability pay to refer to additional pay received by members of the Foreign Service while posted overseas. This pay is based on the Washington, D.C., locality rate. 4State implemented the first phase in August 2009 and the second phase in August 2010. 'Pub. L. No. 112-10. See briefing slide 4 in enclosure I for a detailed timeline of legislation related to comparability pay. GAO-11-772R Overseas Comparability Pay

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