S. 2083 — Pay Our Correctional Officers Fairly Act

This section establishes a special locality pay rule for Bureau of Prisons employees whose official worksite is in the Rest of U.S. (RUS) pay locality (i.e., the base federal pay area outside designated higher-pay metro localities). Under this rule, such a worksite is deemed to be in the nearest other pay locality if it is within 200 miles of that locality's boundary; if multiple other localities are within 200 miles, the worksite is deemed to be in the one with the highest comparability payment (i.e., the highest pay adjustment above RUS). The rule does not apply if the worksite is more than 200 miles from the nearest boundary of any non-RUS locality. (Thus, eligible employees receive the higher locality pay rate of the applicable locality.)

This section establishes higher prevailing wage rates for certain Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prevailing rate employees (i.e., Federal Wage System blue-collar workers) by adding subsection (h) to 5 U.S.C. 5343. Specifically, (1) BOP employees in a Rest of U.S. wage area receive the higher wage schedule and rate of their own wage area or the nearest other wage area (determined, if the nearest pay locality spans multiple wage areas, by the nearest BOP facility within 200 miles or, if none exists, the most similar wage area by population, employment, manpower, and industry); and (2) BOP employees in a covered wage area (i.e., within a pay locality spanning two or more wage areas, excluding Rest of U.S.) receive the highest wage schedule and rate in that pay locality.