An IG audit has found that nearly a third of IRS employees promoted to management had their new salaries set incorrectly.
Based on a sample of employees who received salary increases of greater than 10 percent for promotions into management positions over fiscal 2006-2015, it estimated that the IRS underpaid some 900 employees a total of some $2.7 million while overpaying more than 600 others by $4.2 million.
“The errors were generally due to the complexities associated with setting pay when employees move between the pay systems for managerial and nonmanagerial employees. The procedures for setting pay in these circumstances require IRS personnel to apply cumbersome and oftentimes confusing rules which vary depending on, for example, the management position that the employee will be occupying,” the report said.
Employees who received overpayments and were required to pay them back “stated that they were unaware of any overpayment until notified by the IRS and did not understand how pay calculations were made. Several expressed frustration with these pay issues, with some employees stating that they had delayed retirement, experienced medical issues, contacted their Member of Congress, or turned down management offers as a result.”
The report said the IRS has taken steps to improve the accuracy of pay calculations, such as the addition of a second level of review and has formed a team to review the pay actions associated with almost 1,000 current employees who were potentially overpaid.
