Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Eastern South Dakota and Wyoming Appropriated Fund Wage Areas

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Part 532

RIN 3206-AI74

Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Eastern South Dakota

and Wyoming Appropriated Fund Wage Areas

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management is issuing a final rule

that will redefine Jackson County, South Dakota, from the area of

application of the Eastern South Dakota appropriated fund Federal Wage

System (FWS) wage area to the area of application of the Wyoming wage

area, and redefine Teton County, Wyoming, from the area of application

of the Wyoming FWS wage area to the area of application of the Montana

wage area. The redefinition of Jackson County will place all of

Badlands National Park in one wage area and the redefintion of Teton

County will place employees at Grand Teton National Park on the same

wage schedule as employees at the nearby Yellowstone National Park.

DATES: Effective Date: This regulation is effective on November 1,

1999. Applicability Date: This regulation applies on the first day of

the first applicable pay period beginning on or after October 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Hopkins, by phone at (202)

606-2848, by FAX at (202) 606-0824, or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 23, 1999, the Office of Personnel

Management (OPM) published a proposed rule (64 FR 33427) to redefine

Jackson County, South Dakota, from the area of application of the

Eastern South Dakota appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage

area to the area of application of the Wyoming wage area and to

redefine Teton County, Wyoming, from the area of application of the

Wyoming wage area to the area of application of the Montana wage area.

Under section 5343 of title 5, United States Code, OPM is responsible

for defining wage areas. For this purpose, we follow the regulatory

criteria established in section 532.211 of title 5, Code of Federal

Regulations. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC),

the statutory national labor-management committee responsible for

advising OPM on matters concerning the pay of FWS employees,

recommended by consensus that we redefine Jackson County, South Dakota,

and Teton County, Wyoming. FPRAC found no compelling reasons to make

other changes in the Eastern South Dakota and Wyoming FWS wage areas.

[[Page 53180]]

The Eastern South Dakota wage area continues to meet the regulatory

requirements to remain a separate wage area. There are currently about

550 FWS workers in the wage area, the wage area's host activity

continues to have the capacity to host local wage surveys, and wage

surveys in the area continue to produce adequate wage data to determine

local prevailing rates. Based on an analysis of the regulatory criteria

for defining FWS wage areas, FPRAC found mixed results for Jackson

County. However, Badlands National Park is currently split by the

boundary of the Wyoming wage area. The park headquarters is located in

the Eastern South Dakota wage area, while most of the park is located

in the Wyoming wage area. The redefinition of Jackson County to the

Wyoming wage area will place the entire park in one wage area.

The Wyoming wage area also continues to meet the regulatory

requirements to remain a separate wage area. There are currently about

1,300 FWS workers in the wage area, the wage area's host activity

continues to have the capacity to host local wage surveys, and wage

surveys in the area continue to produce adequate wage data to determine

local prevailing rates. Based on the mixed nature of the regulatory

analysis findings, there was no clear indication that Teton County

should be redefined to one wage area more than another. However, the

two main FWS employers in northwestern Wyoming are Yellowstone National

Park and Grand Teton National Park. The parks are connected by the John

D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, with a distance of only about 8

kilometers (5 miles) separating the parks.

The parks are located in a region geographically isolated by the

Rocky Mountains from both the Montana and Wyoming survey areas.

Although the regulatory criteria do not favor defining Teton County to

one wage area more than another, we are placing the parks in the same

wage area based on FPRAC's recommendation. This change will place all

Department of the Interior FWS employees stationed in northwestern

Wyoming in the same wage area, including those FWS employees assigned

to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

The proposed rule provided a 30-day public comment period, during

which we received two comments, both of which supported these changes.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

I 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.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 532

Administrative practice and procedure, Freedom of information,

Government employees, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Wages.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance,

Director.

Accordingly, the Office of Personnel Management amends 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. Appendix C to subpart B is amended by revising the wage area

listings for the Montana, Eastern South Dakota, and Wyoming wage areas

to read as follows:

Appendix C to Subpart B of Part 532--Appropriated Fund Wage and Survey

Areas

* * * * *

MONTANA

Survey Area

Montana:

Cascade

Lewis and Clark

Yellowstone

Area of Application. Survey area plus

Montana:

Beaverhead

Big Horn

Blaine

Broadwater

Carbon

Carter

Chouteau

Custer

Daniels

Dawson

Deer Lodge

Fallon

Fergus

Flathead

Gallatin

Garfield

Glacier

Golden Valley

Granite

Hill

Jefferson

Judith Basin

Lake

Liberty

Lincoln

McCone

Madison

Meagher

Mineral

Missoula

Musselshell

Park

Petroleum

Phillips

Pondera

Powder River

Powell

Prairie

Ravalli

Richland

Roosevelt

Rosebud

Sanders

Sheridan

Silver Bow

Stillwater

Sweet Grass

Teton

Toole

Treasure

Valley

Wheatland

Wibaux

Wyoming:

Big Horn

Park

Teton

* * * * *

SOUTH DAKOTA

EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

Survey Area

South Dakota:

Minnehaha

Area of Application. Survey area plus:

South Dakota:

Aurora

Beadle

Bennett

Bon Homme

Brookings

Brown

Brule

Buffalo

Campbell

Charles Mix

Clark

Clay

Codington

Corson

Davison

Day

Deuel

Dewey

Douglas

Edmunds

Faulk

Grant

Gregory

Haakon

Hamlin

Hand

Hanson

Hughes

Hutchinson

Hyde

Jerauld

Jones

Kingsbury

Lake

Lincoln

Lyman

McCook

McPherson

Marshall

[[Page 53181]]

Mellette

Miner

Moody

Potter

Roberts

Sanborn

Spink

Stanley

Sully

Todd

Tripp

Turner

Union

Walworth

Washabaugh

Yankton

Ziebach

Iowa:

Dickinson

Emmet

Lyon

Osceola

Minnesota:

Jackson

Lincoln

Lyon

Murray

Nobles

Pipestone

Rock

* * * * *

WYOMING

Survey Area

Wyoming:

Albany

Laramie

Natrona

South Dakota:

Pennington

Area of application. Survey area plus:

Wyoming:

Campbell

Carbon

Converse

Crook

Fremont

Goshen

Hot Springs

Johnson

Lincoln

Niobrara

Platte

Sheridan

Sublette

Sweetwater

Uinta

Washakie

Weston

Nebraska:

Banner

Box Butte

Cheyenne

Dawes

Deuel

Garden

Kimball

Morrill

Scotts Bluff

Sheridan

Sioux

South Dakota:

Butte

Custer

Fall River

Harding

Jackson

Lawrence

Meade

Perkins

Shannon

[FR Doc. 99-25611 Filed 9-30-99; 8:45 am]

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