FROM THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL 58 MARCH 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Ending a New-Hire Pay Gap The issue of unequal pay entitlements for newly hired Foreign Service members, particularly local hires, has been a longstanding concern. For more than two decades, AFSA has worked to ensure fair treatment for all new entrants. A major victory was achieved with the passage of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), resolving the final disparity in how new hires, especially local hires, were treated. Here’s a look at AFSA’s journey to this victory. Prior to 2013, newly hired Foreign Service members would receive overseas comparability pay (OCP), capped at twothirds of Washington, D.C., locality pay, until they arrived at their first assignment. As illustrated below, during this time, i.e., A-100 orientation and training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), nonlocal hires received per diem, while local hires received only OCP. AFSA’s advocacy over the disparity in pay dates back as far as 1994, when AFSA began hearing reports from its constituents of morale issues among incoming class members who were disadvantaged based solely on their geographic location at the time of hiring. This prompted AFSA to seek an explanation from the State Department about its policy. Unfortunately, the department offered little to explain the discrepancy. A few years later, in what seemed to be an effort to remedy part of the problem through the assignment and locality pay process, the department sought guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) about the short-term assignment of local hires to their training location. In 1998 OPM issued guidance noting that the short-term assignment of a local hire to their training location, prior to their first official duty station, conflicted with OPM’s statutorily authorized regulations. As such, the discrepancy and disadvantage persisted. The Grievance Process in Action In 2012 AFSA was contacted by a new local hire who expected to be in training status for more than one year prior to his first assignment. The member was receiving OCP but believed that, per the department’s own regulations (see 2 13 FAM 102 and SOP a-09), he should be assigned to FSI and receive full locality pay. AFSA filed a grievance on behalf of the member. On Nov. 20, 2013, the Foreign Service Grievance Board (FSGB) ruled in favor of the grievant, finding that the department had failed to apply its own regulations and that employees required to undergo training expected to last more than one year should be assigned to the training location, thereby entitling them to locality pay. The ruling clarified that new entrants, regardless of their status as local or nonlocal hires, must be assigned to the training facility, entitling them to full D.C. locality pay. See FSGB Case No. 2013-020. This victory in 2013 was followed by a second grievance involving two new local hires in training expected to last more than six months but less than one year prior to their first assignment. The members were receiving OCP, but believed they should be assigned to FSI and receive full locality pay. The FSGB ruled once again in favor of the grievants, confirming that the department’s failure to apply its regulations resulted in the denial of locality pay to which employees were entitled. The 2017 ruling applied the same logic as the 2013 decision to cases involving six- to 12-month training assignments. The board determined that the department was required to assign such employees to FSI and pay them locality pay accordingly. See FSGB Case No. 2015-053. These FSGB rulings set important precedents for the application of locality pay to newly hired Foreign Service employees regardless of their geographic location at the time of hiring. With these significant wins, AFSA next turned its focus on the FSGB 205-053 A-100 Orientation FSI Training 0-6 months FSI Training 6 to 12 months FSI Training 12+ months Local Hire 0 OCP Locality pay Locality pay Nonlocal Hire Per diem OCP + per diem Locality pay Locality pay FSGB 2013-020 A-100 Orientation FSI Training 0-12 months FSI Training 12+ months Local Hire 0 OCP Locality pay Nonlocal Hire Per diem OCP + per diem Locality pay FSGB 205-053 A-100 Orientation FSI Training 0-6 months FSI Training 6-12 months FSI Training 12+ months Local Hire 0 OCP Locality pay Locality pay Nonlocal Hire Per diem OCP + per diem Locality pay Locality pay
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