When civilian federal employees come back to work after New Year’s Day, they’ll find a little more money in their first paycheck thanks to a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) allowed in the fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill and ordered through executive action on Dec. 19.
After three years of pay freezes for civilian personnel on the general schedule pay scale, employees received a COLA increase in FY ’14 and will again this year.
The vice president and other high-ranking executive officers are exempt from the COLA increase, as are some employees at overseas facilities. The executive order contains more details about how various categories of employees will be affected, and a memo from Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta to all heads of federal departments and agencies contains additional information.
In the Defense Department, the highest-ranking officers will not receive a pay raise but all other uniformed personnel will. According to a DoD statement, “basic pay for service members will increase one percent, except for general and flag officers who will not see an increase in 2015. For example, an E-4 with 3 years of service will see an increase in basic pay of $22.20 per month, while an O-3 with 6 years of service will receive a basic pay increase of $54.30 per month in 2015.”
More information regarding increases in basic allowances for housing, subsistence and more is available online.
The pay increase goes into effect on Jan. 1, and most employees will receive their first post-increase paycheck on Jan. 11.
“This pay increase for federal workers is well deserved and appropriate, and I’m pleased that the president has made good on the plan that we worked out as part of the Omnibus budget,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said after President Barack Obama signed the executive order. “I’ve always been proud to advocate for federal workers, who work on the front line each and every day on behalf of the American people. Federal employees have been undervalued and underappreciated for too long. Each and every day, federal employees stand up for America. That is why I will continue to work to end the era of government shutdown, government on autopilot and pay freezes.”