30272 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 106 /Wednesday, June 3, 1998 / Notices

DATES: Comments on this proposal

should be received within 30 calendar

days from the date of this publication.

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver comments

to—

Lorraine E. Dettman, Chief, Operations

Support Division, Retirement and

Insurance Service, U.S. Office of

Personnel Management, 1900 E Street,

NW, Room 3349, Washington, DC

20415–0001

and

Joseph Lackey, OPM Desk Officer,

Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and

Budget, New Executive Office

Building, NW, Room 3002,

Washington, DC 20503

FOR INFORMATION REGARDING

ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATION—CONTACT:

Mary Beth Smith-Toomey, Budget &

Administrative Service Division, (202)

606–0623.

Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance,

Director.

[FR Doc. 98–14548 Filed 6–2–98; 8:45 am]

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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL

MANAGEMENT

January 1998 Pay Adjustments

AGENCY: Office of Personnel

Management.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The rates of basic pay and

locality payments for certain categories

of Federal employees were adjusted in

January 1998, as authorized by the

President. This notice documents those

pay adjustments for the public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sharon Herzberg, Office of

Compensation Administration,

Workforce Compensation and

Performance Service, Office of

Personnel Management, (202) 606–2858,

FAX (202) 606–0864, or email to

payleave@opm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August

29, 1997, the President transmitted to

Congress an alternative plan under the

authority of 5 U.S.C. 5303(b) and 5304a

that established the January 1998 acrossthe-board adjustments for statutory pay

systems and the 1998 locality pay

adjustments for General Schedule (GS)

employees in the 48 contiguous States

and the District of Columbia. On

December 29, 1997, the President signed

Executive Order 13071 (62 FR 68521).

This order implemented increases in

rates of basic pay for various categories

of Federal employees in 1998, as

required by 5 U.S.C. 5303 and other

statutes. The 1998 General Schedule,

reflecting the 2.3 percent general

increase, was published as Schedule 1

of Executive Order 13071. Executive

Order 13071 also included the

percentage amounts of the 1998 locality

payments as established by the

President’s alternative plan of August

29, 1997. (See Section 5 and Schedule

9 of Executive Order 13071.) The

publication of this notice satisfies the

requirement in section 5(b) of Executive

Order 13071 that the Office of Personnel

Management (OPM) publish appropriate

notice of the 1998 locality payments in

the Federal Register.

Locality payments are authorized for

General Schedule employees under 5

U.S.C. 5304 and 5304a. They apply in

the 48 contiguous States and the District

of Columbia. In 1998, there are 32

separate locality pay areas with locality

payments ranging from 5.42 percent to

12.06 percent. These 1998 locality pay

percentages, which replaced the locality

pay percentages that were applicable in

1997, became effective on the first day

of the first applicable pay period

beginning on or after January 1, 1998.

An employee’s locality-adjusted annual

rate of pay is computed by increasing

his or her scheduled annual rate of basic

pay (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5302(8) and

5 CFR 531.602) by the applicable

locality pay percentage. (See 5 CFR

531.604 and 531.605.)

On December 4, 1997, the Director of

OPM, on behalf of the President’s Pay

Agent, extended the 1998 locality-based

comparability payments to the same

Governmentwide and single-agency

categories of non-GS employees that

were authorized to receive the 1997

locality payments. The

Governmentwide categories include

members of the Senior Executive

Service (SES), the Foreign Service, the

Senior Foreign Service, employees in

senior-level (SL) and scientific or

professional (ST) positions,

administrative law judges, and members

of Boards of Contract Appeals. By law,

the maximum locality rate of pay for

these employees is the rate for level III

of the Executive Schedule.

Executive Order 13071 shows the

1998 Executive Schedule reflecting the

2.3 percent pay adjustment granted

under 5 U.S.C. 5318. The Executive

order also reflects a decision by the

President to increase the rates of basic

pay for members of the Senior Executive

Service (SES) by 2.3 percent (rounded to

the nearest $100) at levels ES–1 through

ES–6. Because of previous pay cap

restrictions, the new ES–5 and ES–6

rates of basic pay are the same.

The rates of basic pay for

administrative law judges (ALJs) and

Board of Contract Appeals (BCA)

members are calculated as a percentage

of the rate for level IV of the Executive

Schedule. (See 5 U.S.C. 5372 and

5372a.) Therefore, ALJ and BCA rates

have been increased by 2.3 percent.

Also, the maximum rate of basic pay for

senior-level (SL) and scientific or

professional (ST) positions has been

increased by 2.3 percent (to $118,400)

because it is tied to the rate for level IV

of the Executive Schedule. The

minimum rate for SL/ST positions is

equal to 120 percent of the minimum

rate of basic pay for GS–15, and it has

been increased by 2.3 percent (to

$87,030) because of the 2.3 percent

across-the-board GS pay adjustment.

(See 5 U.S.C. 5376.)

OPM has published ‘‘Salary Tables for

1998’’ (OPM Doc. 124–48–6, March

1998), which provides complete salary

tables incorporating the 1998 pay

adjustments, information on general pay

administration matters, locality pay area

definitions, Internal Revenue Service

withholding tables, and other related

information. The rates of pay shown in

‘‘Salary Tables for 1998’’ are the official

rates of pay for affected employees and

are hereby incorporated as part of this

notice. Copies of ‘‘Salary Tables for

1998’’ may be purchased from the

Government Printing Office (GPO) by

calling (202) 512–1800 or FAX (202)

512–2250. Copies of ‘‘Salary Tables for

1998’’ may also be ordered directly from

GPO on the Internet at http://

www.gpo.gov/suldocs/sale/prf/

prf.html.

In addition, pay tables may be

downloaded from OPM’s Internet

website at http://www.opm.gov/ oca/

payrates/ index.htm. Pay schedules also

may be downloaded directly from

OPM’s electronic bulletin board, OPM

ONLINE, which is reached by dialing

(202) 606–4800 via modem.

Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance,

Director.

[FR Doc. 98–14547 Filed 6–2–98; 8:45 am]

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