Prevailing Rate Systems; Special Wage Schedules for Supervisors of Negotiated Rate Bureau of Reclamation Employees

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed

rule to establish special wage schedules for the supervisors of certain

Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, employees who

negotiate their wage rates.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 7, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver comments to Donald J. Winstead, Acting

Assistant Director for Compensation Policy, Personnel Systems and

Oversight Group, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Room 6H31, 1900 E

Street NW., Washington, DC 20415.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Shields, (202) 606-2848.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Bureau of Reclamation electrical power

employees in mixed bargaining units (including both workers and

supervisors) were historically paid negotiated rates under the

authority of section 9(b) of Pub. L 92-392 and section 704 of Pub. L.

95-454. The historical practice was to pay supervisors a negotiated

percentage differential above the rates of the workers supervised.

In 1989, the Department of the Interior began pulling supervisors

out of these mixed bargaining units as contracts expired, and a new

method of paying the supervisors was needed. In 1990, OPM approved a

temporary set-aside practice under former Federal Personnel Manual

Supplement 532-1, Appendix V, Listing of Agency Special Wage Schedules

and Rates Documented Under the Federal Wage System (FWS), to continue

paying existing negotiated supervisory differentials for the

supervisors removed from the bargaining units. This was based on

expected serious, pay-based recruitment and retention problems if

supervisors were placed on regular FWS schedules.

The Department of the Interior has now requested the authority to

establish FWS special wage schedules for the supervisors that use a

special job evaluation system and pay rates based on wage surveys of

private sector supervisory jobs. The special wage schedules would cover

approximately 109 supervisors in 13 special wage areas (Great Plains

Region, Mid-Pacific Region, Green Springs Power Field Station, Pacific

Northwest Region Drill Crew, Snake River Area Office, Hungry Horse

Project Office, Grand Coulee Power Office, Upper Columbia Area Office

(Yakima), Colorado River Storage Project Area, Elephant Butte Area,

Lower Colorado Dams Area, Yuma Projects Area, and Bureau of

Reclamation, Denver). Positions formerly evaluated as Foremen II, III,

and IV under the Department of the Interior Evaluation Plan for

Supervisory and Leader Positions are covered.

No current employee will have his or her pay rate reduced as a

result of these new special schedules. During implementation of the new

special schedules, the initial special wage schedules will not be

subject to statutory pay increase limitations.

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.

Office of Personnel Management.

James B. King,

Director.

Accordingly, OPM 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; Sec. 532.707 also issued under 5

U.S.C. 552.

2. Subpart B is amended by adding Sec. 532.285 to read as follows:

Sec. 532.285 Special wage schedules for supervisors of negotiated rate

Bureau of Reclamation employees.

(a) The Department of the Interior shall establish and issue

special wage schedules for wage supervisors of negotiated rate wage

employees in the Bureau of Reclamation. These schedules shall be based

on annual special wage surveys conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation

in each special wage area. Survey jobs representing Bureau of

Reclamation positions at up to four levels will be matched to private

industry jobs in each special wage area. Special schedule rates for

each position will be based on prevailing rates for that particular job

in private industry.

(b) Each supervisory job shall be described at one of four levels

corresponding to the four supervisory situations described in Factor I

and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job Grading Standard for

Supervisors. They shall be titled in accordance with regular FWS

practices with the added designation of level I, II, III, or IV. The

special survey and wage schedule for a given special wage area includes

only those occupations and levels having employees in that area. For

each position on the special schedule, there shall be three step rates.

Step 2 is the prevailing rate as determined by the survey, step 1 is 96

percent of the prevailing rate, and step 3 is 104 percent of the

prevailing rate.

(c) For each special wage area, the Bureau of Reclamation shall

designate and appoint a special wage survey committee, including a

chairperson and two other members (at least one of whom shall be a

supervisor paid from the special wage schedule), and one or more two-

person data collection teams (each of which shall include at least one

supervisor paid from the special wage schedule). Full-scale surveys

shall be planned and conducted in each area at least every 3 years,

with wage change surveys in each intervening year. More frequent full-

scale surveys may be scheduled to balance the agency survey workload.

The local wage survey committee shall determine the prevailing rate for

each survey job as a weighted average. Survey specifications are as

follows for all surveys:

(1) Tailored to the Bureau of Reclamation activities and types of

supervisory positions in the special wage area, private industry

companies to be surveyed shall be selected from among the following

Standard Industrial Classification Major Groups: 12 coal mining; 13 oil

and gas extraction; 14 mining and quarrying of nonmetallic minerals,

except fuels; 35 manufacturing industrial and commercial machinery and

computer equipment; 36 manufacturing electronic and other electrical

equipment and components, except computer equipment; 42 motor freight

transportation and warehousing; 48 communications; 49 electric, gas,

and sanitary services; and 76 miscellaneous repair services. No minimum

employment size is required for surveyed establishments.

(2) Each local wage survey committee shall compile lists of all

companies in the survey area known to have potential job matches. For

the first survey, all companies on the list will be surveyed.

Subsequently, companies shall be removed from the survey list if they

prove not to have job matches, and new companies will be added if they

are expected to have job matches. Survey data will be shared with other

local wage survey committees when the data from any one company is

applicable to more than one special wage area.

(3) For each area, survey job descriptions shall be tailored to

correspond to the position of each covered supervisor in that area.

They will be described at one of four levels (I, II, III, or IV)

corresponding to the definitions of the four supervisory situations

described in Factor I and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job

Grading Standard for Supervisors. A description of the craft, trade, or

labor work supervised will be included in each supervisory survey job

description.

(d) Special wage area boundaries shall be identical to the survey

areas covered by the special wage surveys. The areas of application in

which the special schedules will be paid are smaller than the survey

areas, reflecting actual Bureau of Reclamation worksites and the often

scattered location of surveyable private sector jobs. Special wage

schedules shall be established in the following areas:

The Great Plains Region

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Montana: All counties except Lincoln, Sanders, Lake, Flathead,

Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Granite, and Ravalli

Wyoming: All counties except Lincoln, Teton, Sublette, Uinta, and

Sweetwater

Colorado: All counties except Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Mesa,

Delta, Montrose, San Miguel, Ouray, Delores, San Juan, Montezuma, La

Plata, and Archuleta

North Dakota: All counties

South Dakota: All counties

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Montana: Broadwater, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Yellowstone, and

Bighorn counties

Wyoming: All counties except: Lincoln, Teton, Sublette, Uinta, and

Sweetwater

Colorado: Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Eagle, Fremont, Gilpin,

Grand, Lake, Larimer, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, and Summitt

Beginning month of survey: August

The Mid-Pacific Region

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

California: Shasta, Sacramento, Butte, San Francisco, Merced,

Stanislaus

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

California: Shasta, Sacramento, Fresno, Alameda, Tehama, Tuolumne,

Merced

Beginning month of survey: October

Green Springs Power Field Station

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Oregon: Jackson

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Oregon: Jackson

Beginning month of survey: April

Pacific NW. Region Drill Crew

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Montana: Flathead, Missoula

Oregon: Lane, Bend, Medford, Umatilla, Multnomah

Utah: Salt Lake

Idaho: Ada, Canyon, Adams

Washington: Spokane, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Oregon: Deschutes, Jackson, Umatilla

Montana: Missoula

Idaho: Ada

Washington: Grant, Lincoln, Douglas, Okanogan, Yakima

Beginning month of survey: April

Snake River Area Office (Central Snake/Minidoka)

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Idaho: Ada, Caribou, Bingham, Bannock

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Idaho: Gem, Elmore, Bonneville, Minidoka, Boise, Valley, Power

Beginning month of survey: April

Hungry Horse Project Office

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Montana: Flathead, Missoula, Cascade, Sanders, Lake

Idaho: Bonner

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Montana: Flathead

Beginning month of survey: March

Grand Coulee Power Office (Grand Coulee Project Office)

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Oregon: Multnomah

Washington: Spokane, King

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Washington: Grant, Douglas, Lincoln, Okanogan

Beginning month of survey: April

Upper Columbia Area Office (Yakima)

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Washington: King, Yakima

Oregon: Multnomah

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Washington: Yakima

Oregon: Umatilla

Beginning month of survey: September

Colorado River Storage Project Area

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Arizona: Apache, Coconino, Navajo

Colorado: Moffat, Montrose, Routt, Gunnison, Rio Blanco, Mesa,

Garfield, Eagle, Delta, Pitkin, San Miguel, Delores, Montezuma, La

Plata, San Juan, Ouray, Archuleta, Hindale, Mineral

Wyoming: Unita, Sweetwater, Carbon, Albany, Laramie, Goshen, Platte,

Niobrara, Converse, Natrona, Fremont, Sublette, Lincoln

Utah: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne,

Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute,

Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah,

Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne, Weber

Special Survey Area of Application (Counties)

Arizona: Coconino

Colorado: Montrose, Gunnison, Mesa

Wyoming: Lincoln

Utah: Daggett

Beginning month of survey: March

Elephant Butte Area

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

New Mexico: Grant, Hidalgo, Lune, Dona Ana, Otero, Eddy, Lea,

Roosevelt, Chaves, Lincoln, Sierra, Socorro, Catron, Cibola,

Valencia, Bernalillo, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca, Curry, Quay

Texas: El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presido, Brewster,

Pecos, Reeves, Loving, Ward, Winkler

Arizona: Apache, Greenlee, Graham, Cochise

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

New Mexico: Sierra

Beginning month of survey: June

Lower Colorado Dams Area

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Nevada: Clark

California: Los Angeles

Arizona: Maricopa

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Nevada: Clark

California: San Bernadino

Arizona: Mohave

Beginning month of survey: August

Yuma Projects Area

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

California: San Diego

Arizona: Maricopa, Yuma

Note: Bureau of Reclamation may add other survey counties for

dredge operator supervisors because of the uniqueness of the

occupation and difficulty in finding job matches.)

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)

Arizona: Yuma

Beginning month of survey: November (Maintenance) and April

(Dredging)

Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Co, Area

Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)

Colorado: Jefferson, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Larimer

Special Wage Survey Area of Application (Counties)

Colorado: Jefferson

Beginning month of survey: February

(e) These special schedule positions will be identified by pay plan

code XE, grade 00, and the Federal Wage System occupational codes will

be used. New employees shall be hired at step 1 of the position. With

satisfactory or higher performance, advancement between steps shall be

automatic after 52 weeks of service.

(f)(1) In the first year of implementation (fiscal year 1995), all

special areas will have full-scale surveys.

(2) Current employees shall be placed in step 2 of the new special

schedule or, if their current rate of pay exceeds the rate for step 2,

they shall be placed in step 3. Pay retention shall apply to any

employee whose rate of basic pay would otherwise be reduced as a result

of placement in these new special wage schedules.

(3) The waiting period for within-grade increases shall begin on

the employee's first day under the new special schedule.

[FR Doc. 94-21934 Filed 9-6-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6325-01-M