Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of Certain Appropriated Fund Federal Wage System Wage Areas

80 FR 15147Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of Certain Appropriated Fund Federal Wage System Wage Areas

80 FR 15147U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

80 FR 15147The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a final rule to redefine the geographic boundaries of several appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas for pay-setting purposes. Based on recent reviews of Metropolitan Statistical Area boundaries in a number of wage areas, OPM is redefining the following wage areas: Washington, DC; Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC, and Southwestern Wisconsin. In addition, this final rule makes three minor corrections to the Miami, FL; Columbus, GA, and Kansas City, MO, wage areas.

80 FR 15147Effective date: This regulation is effective on March 23, 2015. Applicability date: This change applies on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 22, 2015.

80 FR 15147Madeline Gonzalez, by telephone at (202) 606-2838 or by email at pay-leave-policy@opm.gov.

80 FR 15147On October 31, 2014, OPM issued a proposed rule (79 FR 64684) to redefine the following counties: • Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties, VA, from the Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD, area of application to the Washington, DC, area of application; • Fillmore County, MN, from the Southwestern Wisconsin area of application to the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, area of application; and • Chester County, SC, from the Columbia, SC, area of application to the Charlotte, NC, area of application. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the national labor-management committee responsible for advising OPM on matters concerning the pay of FWS employees, reviewed and recommended these changes by consensus. The proposed rule had a 30-day comment period, during which OPM received no comments. In addition, this final rule (1) updates the name of the Columbus Consolidated Government in the Columbus, GA, FWS wage area because Columbus is the official name of the entity resulting from the consolidation of the City of Columbus and Muscogee County in 1971; (2) updates the name of Dade County in the Miami, FL, FWS wage area because the name of Dade County was officially changed to Miami-Dade County in 1997; and (3) deletes the name of the St. Louis, MO, wage area from the list of area of application counties in the Kansas City, MO, wage area because, due to a formatting error, the name of the St. Louis wage area was incorrectly printed as if it was an area of application county in the Kansas City wage area. These corrections do not affect the pay of any FWS employees.

80 FR 15147I certify that these regulations will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they will affect only Federal agencies and employees.

80 FR 15147Administrative practice and procedure, Freedom of information, Government employees, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Wages. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Accordingly, OPM amends 5 CFR part 532 as follows:

80 FR 151471. The authority citation for part 532 continues to read as follows:

80 FR 151475 U.S.C. 5343, 5346; § 532.707 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 552.

80 FR 151472. Appendix C to subpart B is amended by revising the wage area listings for the Washington, DC; Miami, FL; Columbus, GA; Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Kansas City, MO; Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC, and Southwestern Wisconsin wage areas to read as follows:

80 FR 15147DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington, DC Survey Area District of Columbia: Washington, DC Maryland: Charles Frederick Montgomery Prince George's Virginia (cities): Alexandria Fairfax Falls Church Manassas Manassas Park Virginia (counties): Arlington Fairfax Loudoun Prince William Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maryland: Calvert St. Mary's Virginia (city): Fredericksburg Virginia (counties): Clarke Culpeper Fauquier King George Rappahannock Spotsylvania Stafford Warren West Virginia Jefferson * * * * * FLORIDA * * * * * Miami Survey Area Florida: Miami-Dade Area of Application. Survey area plus: Florida: Broward Collier Glades Hendry Highlands Martín Monroe Okeechobee Palm Beach St. Lucie * * * * * GEORGIA * * * * * Columbus Survey Area Alabama: Autauga Elmore Lee Macon Montgomery Russell Georgia: Chattahoochee Columbus Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Bullock Butler Chambers Coosa Crenshaw Dallas Lowndes Pike Tallapoosa Wilcox Georgia: Harris Marion Quitman Schley Stewart Talbot Taylor Troup Webster * * * * * MARYLAND * * * * * Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg Survey Area Maryland: Washington Pennsylvania: Franklin West Virginia: Berkeley Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maryland: Allegany Garrett Pennsylvania: Fulton Virginia (cities): Harrisonburg Winchester Virginia (counties): Frederick Greene Madison Page Rockingham Shenandoah West Virginia: Hampshire Hardy Mineral Morgan * * * * * MINNESOTA * * * * * Minneapolis-St. Paul Survey Area Minnesota: Anoka Carver Chisago Dakota Hennepin Ramsey Scott Washington Wright Wisconsin: St. Croix Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Chippewa Cottonwood Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Isanti Kanabec Kandiyohi Lac Qui Parle Le Sueur McLeod Martin Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Nicollet Olmsted Pope Redwood Renville Rice Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Watonwan

80 FR 15148Yellow Medicine Wisconsin: Pierce Polk * * * * * MISSOURI Kansas City Survey Area Kansas: Johnson Leavenworth Wyandotte Missouri: Cass Clay Jackson Platte Ray Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kansas: Allen Anderson Atchison Bourbon Doniphan Douglas Franklin Linn Miami Missouri: Adair Andrew Atchison Bates Buchanan Caldwell Carroll Chariton Clinton Cooper Daviess De Kalb Gentry Grundy Harrison Henry Holt Howard Johnson Lafayette Linn Livingston Macon Mercer Nodaway Pettis Putnam Saline Schuyler Sullivan Worth * * * * * NORTH CAROLINA * * * * * Charlotte Survey Area North Carolina: Cabarrus Gaston Mecklenburg Rowan Union Area of Application. Survey area plus: North Carolina: Alexander Anson Catawba Cleveland Iredell Lincoln Stanly Wilkes South Carolina: Chester Chesterfield Lancaster York * * * * * SOUTH CAROLINA * * * * * Columbia Survey Area South Carolina: Darlington Florence Kershaw Lee Lexington Richland Sumter Area of Application. Survey area plus: South Carolina: Abbeville Anderson Calhoun Cherokee Clarendon Fairfield Greenville Greenwood Laurens Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Saluda Spartanburg Union * * * * * WISCONSIN * * * * * Southwestern Wisconsin Survey Area Wisconsin: Chippewa Eau Claire La Crosse Monroe Trempealeau Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Houston Winona Wisconsin: Barron Buffalo Clark Crawford Dunn Florence Forest Jackson Juneau Langlade Lincoln Marathon Marinette Menominee Oneida Pepin Portage Price Richland Rusk Shawano Taylor Vernon Vilas Waupaca Wood * * * * *