(a) The Department of the Interior shall establish and issue special wage schedules for wage supervisors of negotiated rate wage employees in the Bureau of Reclamation. These schedules shall be based on annual special wage surveys conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation in each special wage area. Survey jobs representing Bureau of Reclamation positions at up to four levels will be matched to private industry jobs in each special wage area. Special schedule rates for each position will be based on prevailing rates for that particular job in private industry.
(b) Each supervisory job shall be described at one of four levels corresponding to the four supervisory situations described in Factor I and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job Grading Standard for Supervisors. They shall be titled in accordance with regular FWS practices, with the added designation of level I, II, III, or IV. The special survey and wage schedule for a given special wage area includes only those occupations and levels having employees in that area. For each position on the special schedule, there shall be three step rates. Step 2 is the prevailing rate as determined by the survey; step 1 is 96 percent of the prevailing rate; and step 3 is 104 percent of the prevailing rate.
(c) For each special wage area, the Bureau of Reclamation shall designate and appoint a special wage survey committee, including a chairperson and two other members (at least one of whom shall be a supervisor paid from the special wage schedule), and one or more two-person data collection teams (each of which shall include at least one supervisor paid from the special wage schedule). The local wage survey committee shall determine the prevailing rate for each survey job as a weighted average. Survey specifications are as follows for all surveys:
(1) Based on Bureau of Reclamation activities and types of supervisory positions in the special wage area, the Bureau of Reclamation must survey private industry companies, with no minimum employment size requirement for establishments, in the following North American Industry Classification System code subsectors:
| 2017 NAICS codes | 2017 NAICS industry titles |
|---|---|
| 211 | Oil and gas extraction. |
| 212 | Mining (except oil and gas). |
| 213 | Support activities for mining. |
| 221 | Utilities. |
| 333 | Machinery manufacturing. |
| 334 | Computer and electronic product manufacturing. |
| 335 | Electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing. |
| 484 | Truck transportation. |
| 492 | Couriers and messengers. |
| 493 | Warehousing and storage. |
| 515 | Broadcasting (except Internet). |
| 517 | Telecommunications. |
| 562 | Waste management and remediation services. |
| 811 | Repair and maintenance. |
(2) Each local wage survey committee shall compile lists of all companies in the survey area known to have potential job matches. For the first survey, all companies on the list will be surveyed. Subsequently, companies shall be removed from the survey list if they prove not to have job matches, and new companies will be added if they are expected to have job matches. Survey data will be shared with other local wage survey committees when the data from any one company is applicable to more than one special wage area.
(3) For each area, survey job descriptions shall be tailored to correspond to the position of each covered supervisor in that area. They will be described at one of four levels (I, II, III, or IV) corresponding to the definitions of the four supervisory situations described in Factor I and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job Grading Standard for Supervisors. A description of the craft, trade, or labor work supervised will be included in each supervisory survey job description.
(d) Special wage area boundaries shall be identical to the survey areas covered by the special wage surveys. The areas of application in which the special schedules will be paid are generally smaller than the survey areas, reflecting actual Bureau of Reclamation worksites and the often scattered location of surveyable private sector jobs. Special wage schedules shall be established in the following areas:
The Great Plains Region
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Montana: All counties except Lincoln, Sanders,Lake, Flathead, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Granite, and Ravalli
Wyoming: All counties except Lincoln, Teton, sublette, Uinta, and Sweetwater
Colorado: All counties except Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Mesa, Delta, Montrose, San Miguel, Ouray, Delores, San Juan, Montezuma, La Plata, and Archuleta
North Dakota: All counties
South Dakota: All counties
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Montana: Broadwater, Jefferson,Lewis and Clark, Yellowstone, and Bighorn Counties
Wyoming: All counties except Lincoln, Teton, Sublette, Uinta, and Sweetwater
Colorado: Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Eagle, Fremont, Gilpin, Grand, Lake, Larimer, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, and Summitt
Beginning month of survey: August
The Mid-Pacific Region
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
California: Shasta, Sacramento, Butte, San Francisco, Merced, Stanislaus
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
California: Shasta, Sacramento, Fresno, Alameda, Tehoma, Tuolumne, Merced
Beginning month of survey: February
Green Springs Power Field Station
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Oregon: Jackson
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Oregon: Jackson
Beginning month of survey: April
Pacific NW. Region Drill Crew
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Montana: Flathead, Missoula
Oregon: Lane, Bend, Medford, Umatilla, Multnomah
Utah: Salt Lake
Idaho: Ada, Canyon, Adams
Washington: Spokane, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Oregon: Deschutes, Jackson, Umatilla
Montana: Missoula
Idaho: Ada
Washington: Grant, Lincoln, Douglas, Okanogan, Yakima
Beginning month of survey: April
Snake River Area Office (Central Snake/Minidoka)
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Idaho: Ada, Caribou, Bingham, Bannock
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Idaho: Gem, Elmore, Bonneville, Minidoka, Boise, Valley, Power
Beginning month of survey: April
Hungry Horse Project Office
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Montana: Flathead, Missoula, Cascade, Sanders, Lake
Idaho: Bonner
Washington: Pend Oreille
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Montana: Flathead
Beginning month of survey: March
Grand Coulee Power Office (Grand Coulee Project Office)
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Oregon: Multnomah
Washington: Spokane, King
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Washington: Grant, Douglas, Lincoln, Okanogan
Beginning month of survey: April
Upper Columbia Area Office (Yakima)
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Washington: King, Yakima
Oregon: Multnomah
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Washington: Yakima
Oregon: Umatilla
Beginning Month of Survey: September
Colorado River Storage Project Area
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Arizona: Apache, Coconino, Navajo
Colorado: Moffat, Montrose, Routt, Gunnison, Rio Blanco, Mesa, Garfield, Eagle, Delta, Pitkin, San Miguel, Delores, Montezuma, La Plata, San Juan, Ouray, Archuleta, Hindale, Mineral
Wyoming: Unita, Sweetwater, Carbon, Albany, Laramie, Goshen, Platte, Niobrara, Converse, Natrona, Fremont, Sublette, Lincoln
Utah: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne, Weber
Special Survey Area of Application (Counties)
Arizona: Coconino
Colorado: Montrose, Gunnison, Mesa
Wyoming: Lincoln
Utah: Daggett
Beginning month of survey: March
Elephant Butte Area
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
New Mexico: Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Donña Ana, Otero, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt, Chaves, Lincoln, Sierra, Socorro, Catron, Cibola, Valencia, Bernalillo, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca, Curry, Quay
Texas: El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presido, Brewster, Pecos, Reeves, Loving, Ward, Winkler
Arizona: Apache, Greenlee, Graham, Cochise
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
New Mexico: Sierra
Beginning month of survey: June
Lower Colorado Dams Area
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Nevada: Clark
California: Los Angeles
Arizona: Maricopa
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Nevada: Clark
California: San Bernardino
Arizona: Mohave
Beginning month of survey: August
Yuma Projects Area
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
California: San Diego
Arizona: Maricopa, Yuma
Note: Bureau of Reclamation may add other survey counties for dredge operator supervisors because of the uniqueness of the occupation and difficulty in finding job matches.)
Special Wage Area of Application (Counties)
Arizona: Yuma
Beginning month of survey: November (Maintenance) and April (Dredging)
Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO, Area
Special Wage Survey Area (Counties)
Colorado: Jefferson, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Larimer
Special Wage Survey Area of Application (Counties)
Colorado: Jefferson
Beginning month of survey: February
(e) These special schedule positions will be identified by pay plan code XE, grade 00, and the Federal Wage System occupational codes will be used. New employees shall be hired at step 1 of the position. With satisfactory or higher performance, advancement between steps shall be automatic after 52 weeks of service.
(f)
(1) In the first year of implementation, all special areas will have full-scale surveys.
(2) Current employees shall be placed in step 2 of the new special schedule, or, if their current rate of pay exceeds the rate for step 2, they shall be placed in step 3. Pay retention shall apply to any employee whose rate of basic pay would otherwise be reduced as a result of placement in these new special wage schedules.
(3) The waiting period for within-grade increases shall begin on the employee's first day under the new special schedule.
[60 FR 5310, Jan. 27, 1995, as amended at 69 FR 7105, Feb. 13, 2004; 71 FR 35375, June 20, 2006; 73 FR 45853, Aug. 7, 2008; 78 FR 58154, Sept. 23, 2013; 84 FR 36814, July 30, 2019]
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