The Federal Wage System (FWS) is a uniform pay-setting system that covers Federal appropriated fund and nonappropriated fund blue-collar employees who are paid by the hour. The system's goal is to make sure that Federal trade, craft, and laboring employees within a local wage area who perform the same duties receive the same rate of pay. The FWS includes 132 appropriated fund and 125 nonappropriated fund local wage areas. Successful labor-management partnership is the hallmark of the FWS, with labor organizations involved in all phases of administering the pay system.
Under this uniform pay system –
Your pay will be the same as the pay of other Federal jobs like yours in your wage area, and
Your pay will be in line with pay for private sector jobs like yours in your wage area.
Pay Limitation
On October 5, 2011, OPM issued Compensation Policy Memorandum 2011-15 to notify agencies that section 147 of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Pub. L. 111-242), as amended by section 1(a) of the Continuing Appropriations and Surface Transportation Extensions Act, 2011 (Pub. L. 111-322, December 22 , 2010) (the FY 2011 Act), continues to prohibit statutory pay adjustments for most prevailing rate system employees during 2012.
Operating Manuals
The FWS Appropriated Fund and Nonappropriated Fund Operating Manuals are available in HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats. Select the manual you need below. The FWS Operating Manuals contain information about the history of the FWS program, how wage surveys are conducted, setting pay for FWS employees, premium pay guidelines, special rates and schedules, and set-aside schedules. The FWS Operating Manuals are useful tools for personnel specialists and FWS employees.
For more information on the Federal Wage System, call (202) 606-2848; FAX: (202) 606-4264; or email Pay-Leave-Policy@opm.gov.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management 1900 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20415 | (202) 606-1800 | TTY (202) 606-2532