Pay Adjustments
In addition to pay changes resulting from promotions (grade increases) and step increases, pay adjustments will also influence your pay. A pay adjustment is a change to your rate of basic pay that does not involve a change in the duties of your position. Following are examples of pay adjustments.
Annual General Schedule
Congress usually grants a government wide "salary increase" for most Federal employees based on increases in the cost of labor. In recent years these adjustments have occurred in January. Over the last several years the size of the increase has varied. This increase affects your basic pay.
Locality Pay Adjustment
Your basic pay is adjusted based upon the geographic location of your position. Locality pay is set by law and corresponds to the "cost of labor" (not the "cost of living") in a geographic area. If you change duty stations, your locality pay will be adjusted to that of your new duty station. For example, the 2006 locality pay for NASA employees located at GSFC in Greenbelt, MD, is 17.50 percent of basic pay, while the locality pay for GSFC employees duty stationed at Wallops Island, VA, and Fairmont, WV is 12.52 percent of basic pay.
Pay is always set using the basic pay entitlement; then the locality pay adjustment is added in at the employee’s grade and step.
