Q: I work in Alaska as an Army civilian police officer. Where I am stationed, we receive specialty pay. For example, I am a GS 08 about to move up to GS 09. My current GS 08 step 4 pay is $54,633. On top of this, we still get cost-of-living allowance here, which for me turns out to be $11,440.15. A normal GS-scale employee as an GS 08 step 4 receives $41,393. Does my specialty pay count toward my Federal Employees Retirement System annuity? In other words, is my retirement based on the $54,633, or is it based on $41,393?…
Browsing: locality pay
Q. What year was “locality pay” started and used along with “base pay” to figure FERS employees annuities, and will the annuity increase each year if locality pay increases? Do CSRS retirees have locality pay figured in their annuities as well? A. The Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act was signed into law in 1990 and the locality pay portion was effective thereafter for CSRS and FERS employees. Locality pay is included only in employee salaries. When an employee retires, his annuity will be computed using his three highest consecutive years of average basic pay, which includes locality pay. Once retired, any increases in…
Q. In your article of 9/21/10, you stated: “Your annuity will be based on you highest three consecutive years of average basic pay. Basic pay is the amount of your salary from which retirement deductions are taken.” OPM states, “Unlike COLA payments, locality pay is included in calculating your “high 3″ average salary.” Can you please clarify? A. Locality pay is considered to be a part of basic pay for annuity calculations purposes.
Q. I work for the United States Postal Service; at my agency we do not receive locality pay. If I decided to leave USPS to go to another government agency that offers locality pay, how would that be incorporated into my current base pay? The way I think it works would be you take my current base pay and add locality pay on top of that. Am I correct? A. Since the Postal Service pay system is completely different from the GS or wage systems, there’s no direct correspondence between their grades and yours. In effect, you would receive the salary…
Q: I saw this question on your website regarding overseas locality pay. I am assigned to a foreign post for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Will my locality pay go toward my high-3? A: Locality pay is always considered to be part of base pay when computing a high-3.
Q: I have a question regarding locality pay determination. I have been accepted to attend the Army War College starting in July. I will be there for 10 months. Since I am at Fort Monroe and will be reassigned to the Pentagon but will be TDY to Carlisle Barracks to attend the War College, shouldn’t my locality pay be determined by where I am assigned? A: While I don’t know what your official duty station should be, I can give you some information that may be helpful. Certain location-based pay entitlements, such as locality pay, are based on the location…
Q: I’m a WG-9, Step 3. We just recently received the 2010 cost-of-living adjustment. However, it was not retroactive to January 2010 like the GS COLA adjustments were. Will this automatically be retroactive, or is this COLA effective the date the president signed the order? A: Wage system and GS employees don’t receive cost-of-living adjustments. They receive pay increases. While the increases for GS employees are usually effective on the first pay period beginning on or after Jan. 1, wage system increases are based on wage surveys conducted at different times of the year and vary by locality.
Q: I would like to retire at the end of 2011. When this time arrives, my annual pay over the previous four years should be as follows: 2008, $90,000; 2009, $93,000; 2010, $80,000; 2011, $106,000. I will have had a stateside job with locality pay in all of those years except 2010, which would have been an overseas federal job without locality pay (a job in South Korea). I am concerned about the $80,000 that I’ll be earning in 2010, which is substantially less than the other years shown. Will the retirement system use the $80,000 that I will earn…
Q. I am retiring and live in Alaska. I want to determine how and when I would be allowed to buy back the locality pay/COLA pay percentage I worked for, since January of 2010. I am suppose to be able to buy back the portion of my locality pay rate that I would be entitled to. The P.L. 111-84 was effective Jan. 1, 2010 and I retire on April 2, 2010. That would amount to three months that I could pay back to obtain the full RUS rate, which is 13.86 percent for this part of the year that I…
Q: I will be covered by the Civil Service Retirement System. I have been offered a position for which locality pay is in effect. Will this locality pay be incorporated in my annuity? A: Locality pay is considered to be a part of basic pay and will be used in the calculation of your annuity.