OPM yesterday published final rules in the Federal Register revising policies on recruitment, retention and relocation incentive payments, the so-called 3Rs.
The rules, which had been in proposed form for more than two years, are the latest in a series of restrictions by the administration on employee incentive payments in general, and on the 3Rs in particular. Several OPM memos of prior years tightened oversight of the payments and OMB earlier this year imposed new scrutiny on 3R and other payments due to sequestration.
The rules: tighten oversight of group recruitment incentive payments; add succession planning to the list of factors that an agency may consider before approving a retention incentive; specify that employees receiving ongoing relocation incentive payments must maintain a residence outside the zone of the earlier duty station in order to continue receiving them; provide that OPM may require data on incentives from agencies on an annual basis; and make various minor clarifications and corrections.
The rules arose out of an interagency working group that OPM convened in 2009 that among other things recommended requiring agencies to more closely monitor incentives to determine whether they should be modified or discontinued based on new or changed conditions.
