Awards Returning at Some Agencies

Several agencies have reinstated employee performance awards in light of the recently relaxed budgetary restrictions, a trend that others might be able to follow. Many agencies tightly restricted or suspended awards last year as a budget-saving measure due to sequestration. The Labor Department is reinstating them, although not announcing the funding level. The IRS also is reinstating its awards but capped at a total value of 1 percent of payroll, the limit on such programs set by OMB guidance of late 2013. NTEU had argued that a total of 1.75 percent was required by contract but agreed to the lower amount to avoid what could have been a long delay through a formal challenge. Some members of Congress have argued that the agency should not be paying awards in light of the scandal over its reviews of applications for tax exemption but so far no move has been made to stop them. But meanwhile the House has passed, as a provision of a veterans education bill (HR-357), language to bar VA from paying awards to its SES members from this year through 2018. The language is a fallout of controversies over the agency’s practice of paying awards despite its large backlog of disability claims applications and despite issues with patient care at some medical centers. An earlier House-passed bill had merely sought to reduce funding for the awards.