The House has voted to cap bonuses and other award type payments to VA employees at $345 million a year for the next five years, down from an average of about $400 million a year in recent years, in response to issues raised regarding the awards in IG reports and congressional hearings.
The language, part of HR-1405, would affect performance awards, suggestion and incentive awards, ratings-based awards, recruitment, relocation and retention payments and many others.
The committee report cited IG findings that VA did not adequately justify retention incentive payments and similar issues with merit-based bonuses "to managers and supervisors who have led troubled offices, including Veterans Health Administration medical centers with demonstrated incidences of gross negligence in care, and VBA positions where a growing inventory of claims and poor workload management practices abound."
"The VAOIG’s findings were consistent with the Committee’s findings of bonuses being awarded to employees with less than satisfactory performance and retention incentives being awarded to employees who had stated their intention to retire in the very near future. The proposed reduction … would leave sufficient funding for VA to award suitable bonuses and other incentives to deserving employees," it says.
