Biden uses emergency authority to cement feds’ 2022 pay raise – By Jessie Bur (Federal Times) / Aug 27 2021
Federal employees will get a total 2.7 percent pay raise in 2022, as President Joe Biden informed Congress Aug. 27 that he intends to exercise his authority to determine federal pay rates during a state of emergency.
U.S. law stipulates that federal compensation rates should increase by the amount the Employment Cost Index, calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, went up in September two years prior, minus 0.5 percent.
For example, the ECI in September 2020 increased by 2.4 percent, meaning that feds should, under the code, get a 1.9 percent pay increase for 2022.
The reality is that feds rarely receive this mathematical increase, as often the president or Congress stipulates a different percentage increase or a pay freeze in budget legislation.
