A group of House Democratic lawmakers and federal employee unions have joined chorus in calling for a comprehensive reassessment of pay for performance systems and a temporary halt to implementing them.
A letter from members including the chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., and federal workforce subcommittee chair Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., praised a recent Pentagon decision to freeze the implementation of its National Security Personnel System and the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System while those systems are reviewed.
They liked the idea so much they have asked OMB to do the same thing government-wide, citing employee mistrust of the objectivity of ratings systems and concerns they may be discriminatory.
"We urge you to put on hold further advancement of any pay-for-performance measures in the federal government and conduct a government-wide review to determine the best way forward to improve performance management while preserving merit principles," said the letter to OMB director Peter Orszag.