The Bush administration’s proposed civil service reform
bill–dubbed the “Working for America Act”–whose stated
purpose is the ensure that agencies “are equipped to better
manage, develop and reward employees to better serve the
American people.” The proposal has not yet been introduced
as legislation.
As previously indicated, the plan would extend to most of
the rest of the government the pay for performance based
systems on tap for the Homeland Security and Defense
departments. That would replace the general schedule and
wage grade systems with pay banding, in which managers
would have greater leeway in setting salaries and
increasing the pay of good performers. Agencies would
move to such systems once they get certification from
the Office of Personnel Management.
Under the new system, only employees rated “fully
successful” or better would get any raises, a response
to the administration’s view that the current evaluation
system doesn’t make a substantial difference in an
employee’s pay and thus doesn’t offer enough of an
incentive for good performance or a deterrent for poor
performance. The measure would require written performance
expectations, although those could be “amplified”
through work assignments and other instructions.
On discipline, the same processes used today would continue
to apply to conduct-based actions. However, removal of a
poor performer would have to be based on a higher standard,
“preponderance of the evidence,” than is currently used
in those actions. Performance improvement periods would
no longer be required, and the in reducing a penalty, the
Merit Systems Protection Board and arbitrators would have
to find management’s action “totally unwarranted.”
The measure also would simplify the types of appointments
and allow OPM to create new types of appointments as it
deems fit–DoD will have similar authority under its
system. The measure also would allow agencies to limit
selection to a local commuting area in the name of faster
hiring, a change from the government’s traditional
policy that competitions are open to all applicants
regardless of geographic area.
