SUMMARY:Legislation to provide federal employees an average 3.2% pay increase in 2022 is introduced in the House.  Similar legislation to be introduced in the Senate soon.
Today Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI)  announced plans to introduce the NTEU-supported FAIR Act, which would provide an average 3.2 percent pay increase for federal employees in January 2022.  The House bill, which was introduced today, consists of a 2.2 percent across-the-board increase and 1.0 percent for locality pay.  Senator Schatz plans to introduce identical legislation in the Senate in the coming days. The Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act (5 USC 5303) indicates that federal employees should receive a 2.2 percent pay raise in January 2022, prior to any amount being  provided for locality pay rate increases.  This formula is designed to ensure that the gap between federal government and private sector wages does not further deteriorate.  According to the most recent Federal Pay Agent Report, the current pay disparity is 23.11 percent.  Providing federal workers a 3.2 percent pay raise in 2022 would begin to address the shortfall in pay over the past few years and help make the federal government a more competitive employer.  NTEU worked closely with its allies in Congress to fight back against a proposed pay  freeze for 2021 and pass a 1.0 percent pay increase for federal workers.  While this amount is less than federal workers deserve, it does recognize the hard work by employees throughout the pandemic.  President Biden is expected to release his “skinny” budget request for FY 2022 in February and his full request in the following months.  NTEU will update you on his proposal for federal employee pay for 2022 at that time. Federal employees and their families deserve fair pay and NTEU will fight to ensure employees receive a fair pay raise in 2022.