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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

5257

Vol. 69, No. 23

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Part 532 

RIN 3206–AJ78 

Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition 

of the North Dakota and Duluth, MN, 

Appropriated Fund Wage Areas

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel 

Management is issuing a final rule to 

redefine the North Dakota and Duluth, 

MN, Federal Wage System (FWS) 

appropriated fund wage areas. This rule 

redefines Clearwater and Mahnomen 

Counties and the White Earth Indian 

Reservation portion of Becker County 

from the North Dakota FWS wage area 

to the Duluth FWS wage area. These 

changes assign all blue-collar Federal 

employees working in Indian Health 

Service facilities in northern Minnesota 

to one FWS wage schedule.

DATES: Effective Date: This regulation is 

effective on the first day of the first 

applicable pay period beginning on or 

after March 5, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark A. Allen at (202) 606–2838, e-mail 

maallen@opm.gov, or FAX: (202) 606–

4264.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

22, 2003, the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) published a 

proposed rule (68 FR 50727) to redefine 

the North Dakota and Duluth, MN, 

Federal Wage System (FWS) 

appropriated fund wage areas. The 

proposed rule had a 30-day public 

comment period. OPM received 3 

comments: one from the Minnesota 

National Guard Adjutant General Office; 

1 from the manager of the Minnesota 

Army National Guard Organizational 

Maintenance Shop Number Five, Detroit 

Lakes; and 1 from an employee 

representative of FWS workers at the 

Detroit Lakes Maintenance Shop, Becker 

County, MN. 

The proposed rule would redefine 

Clearwater and Mahnomen Counties 

and the White Earth Indian Reservation 

portion of Becker County from the North 

Dakota FWS wage area to the Duluth 

FWS wage area. Public comments 

supported these changes but also asked 

that OPM define all of Becker County, 

MN, to the Duluth wage area. 

We proposed redefining Clearwater 

and Mahnomen Counties and the White 

Earth Indian Reservation portion of 

Becker County to the Duluth wage area 

because FWS employees who work for 

closely related Bemidji Area Indian 

Health Service (IHS) facilities in 

northern Minnesota are currently in two 

separate FWS wage areas. The 

Department of Health and Human 

Services requested that OPM redefine 

the North Dakota and Duluth wage areas 

so that blue-collar employees of its IHS 

facilities in northern Minnesota would 

be covered by one wage schedule. 

OPM considers the following 

regulatory criteria under 5 CFR 532.211 

when defining FWS wage area 

boundaries: 

(i) Distance, transportation facilities, 

and geographic features; 

(ii) Commuting patterns; and 

(iii) Similarities in overall population, 

employment, and the kinds and sizes of 

private industrial establishments.

Based on our analysis of the 

regulatory criteria for defining 

appropriated fund FWS wage areas, we 

find that the criteria for Clearwater, 

Mahnomen, and Becker counties do not 

strongly favor defining the counties to 

one FWS wage area more than another. 

However, the IHS medical centers in 

northern Minnesota are in an unusual 

situation in that they are in a rural area 

that is economically and socially 

integrated by the local reservation 

system and not strongly integrated with 

the labor markets in either the North 

Dakota or Duluth FWS survey areas. It 

is desirable to have IHS employees 

aligned under one wage schedule 

because the area and population 

serviced by the medical centers serve as 

a unique labor market. However, there 

is insufficient private sector industry 

and FWS employment in northern 

Minnesota to meet OPM’s regulatory 

requirements for establishing a separate 

FWS wage area for the IHS employees 

there. Because it is not feasible to 

establish a separate FWS wage area for 

IHS employees in northern Minnesota, 

the FWS employment locations must be 

defined to the area of application of an 

existing FWS wage area. 

Analysis of OPM’s regulatory criteria 

for defining FWS wage areas shows that 

the majority of IHS employment 

locations under the Bemidji Area in 

northern Minnesota are more closely 

aligned with the Duluth wage area than 

the North Dakota wage area. The White 

Earth, Red Lake, and Cass Lake Indian 

Health Centers are part of the Bemidji 

Area but their associated reservations 

are not currently located entirely within 

the Duluth wage area. The White Earth 

Indian Reservation occupies the 

northern portion of Becker County and 

most of Mahnomen County, while the 

Red Lake and Cass Lake Indian 

Reservations occupy the northern 

portions of Clearwater County. We 

therefore proposed that Clearwater and 

Mahnomen Counties be redefined from 

the North Dakota wage area to the 

Duluth wage area. We also proposed 

that the White Earth Indian Reservation 

portion of Becker County be redefined 

from the North Dakota wage area to the 

Duluth wage area. There are 11 IHS 

employees in Becker County and none 

in Clearwater or Mahnomen counties. 

There are several FWS employees 

stationed in the part of Becker County 

that we did not propose to define to the 

Duluth wage area. 

The comments OPM received from 

Minnesota National Guard managers 

and employees request that all of Becker 

County, rather than just the White Earth 

Indian Reservation portion, be defined 

to the Duluth wage area. The reasons 

cited in the requests include 

organizational relationships in the 

Minnesota National Guard’s 

Maintenance Division, the cost of living 

in Becker County, and an analysis of 

economic and salary indicators. 

Comments cited the fact that the 

Minnesota National Guard’s 

Maintenance Division has similar 

facilities with similar blue-collar 

workforces in Detroit Lakes (Becker 

County), Cloquet (Carlton County), and 

Hibbing (St. Louis County). 

We do not find a compelling reason 

to place all of Becker County in the 

Duluth wage area. Both Cloquet and 

Hibbing are located in the Duluth FWS

5258 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

survey area while Detroit Lakes is only 

26 kilometers, or 16 miles, from the 

North Dakota FWS survey area. Under 

the statutory principles for determining 

FWS pay, we find that pay rates for 

FWS employees at Minnesota National 

Guard facilities in Detroit Lakes, 

Cloquet, and Hibbing are appropriate. 

We find no compelling reason that FWS 

pay rates should be the same in Detroit 

Lakes as in Cloquet or Hibbing. Detroit 

Lakes has little linkage with the labor 

market in the Duluth survey area while 

it has a significant linkage with the 

North Dakota survey area. For example, 

commuting rates from the 2000 Census 

show that only 0.03 percent of the 

Becker County resident workforce 

commutes to work in the Duluth FWS 

survey area. In comparison, 8.8 percent 

of the Becker County resident workforce 

commutes to work in the North Dakota 

FWS survey area. 

We believe the mixed nature of the 

regulatory analysis findings for Becker 

County, including demographic and 

industry patterns, indicates that the 

non-IHS employment locations in 

Becker County should remain 

appropriately defined to the North 

Dakota wage area. Because the pay of 

FWS employees must be based on the 

local cost of labor rather than the local 

cost of living, the local cost of living is 

not a factor OPM considers when 

defining FWS wage area boundaries. 

The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory 

Committee (FPRAC), the national labormanagement committee that advises 

OPM on FWS pay matters, reviewed and 

recommended these changes by 

consensus. Based on its review of the 

regulatory criteria for defining FWS 

wage areas, FPRAC recommended no 

other changes in the geographic 

definitions of the North Dakota and 

Duluth wage areas. The affected IHS 

employees in Becker County must be 

placed on the wage schedule for the 

Duluth wage area on the first day of the 

first applicable pay period beginning 30 

days after the date this final regulation 

is published in the Federal Register.

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

I certify that these regulations would 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

because they would affect only Federal 

agencies and employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 532 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Freedom of information, 

Government employees, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Wages.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 

Kay Coles James, 

Director.

■ Accordingly, the Office of Personnel 

Management is amending 5 CFR part 532 

as follows:

PART 532—PREVAILING RATE 

SYSTEMS

■ 1. The authority citation for part 532 

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5343, 5346; § 532.707 

also issued under 5 U.S.C. 552.

■ 2. In appendix C to subpart B, the wage 

area listing for the State of Minnesota is 

amended by revising the listing for 

Duluth; and for the State of North 

Dakota, to read as follows:

Appendix C to Subpart B of Part 532—

Appropriated Fund Wage and Survey 

Areas

* * * * *

Minnesota 

Duluth 

Survey Area 

Minnesota: 

Carlton 

St. Louis 

Wisconsin: 

Douglas 

Area of Application. Survey Area Plus 

Minnesota: 

Aitkin 

Becker (Including the White Earth Indian 

Reservation portion only) 

Beltrami 

Cass 

Clearwater 

Cook 

Crow Wing 

Hubbard 

Itasca 

Koochiching 

Lake 

Lake of the Woods 

Mahnomen 

Pine 

Wisconsin: 

Ashland 

Bayfield 

Burnett 

Iron 

Sawyer 

Washburn

* * * * *

North Dakota 

Survey Area 

North Dakota: 

Burleigh 

Cass 

Grand Forks 

McLean 

Mercer 

Morton 

Oliver 

Traill 

Ward 

Minnesota: 

Clay 

Polk 

Area of Application. Survey Area Plus 

North Dakota: 

Adams 

Barnes 

Benson 

Billings 

Bottineau 

Bowman 

Burke 

Cavalier 

Dickey 

Divide 

Dunn 

Eddy 

Emmons 

Foster 

Golden Valley 

Grant 

Griggs 

Hettinger 

Kidder 

La Moure 

Logan 

McHenry 

McIntosh 

McKenzie 

Mountrail 

Nelson 

Pembina 

Pierce 

Ramsey 

Ransom 

Renville 

Richland 

Rolette 

Sargent 

Sheridan 

Sioux 

Slope 

Stark 

Steele 

Stutsman 

Towner 

Walsh 

Wells 

Williams 

Minnesota: 

Becker (Excluding the White Earth Indian 

Reservation portion) 

Kittson 

Marshall 

Norman 

Otter Tail 

Pennington 

Red Lake 

Roseau 

Wilkin

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 04–2149 Filed 2–3–04; 8:45 am] 

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