Performance Pay Fund Another Twist

The administration’s budget proposal also includes, as previously indicated, a request for $500 million for agencies to use to reward highly performing employees. Congressional civil service leaders have said they generally favor creating the fund; the new leaders of the main House and Senate committees handling federal employment issues have recently come out in favor of pay-for-performance. However, federal unions already are raising the same concerns that have caused them to oppose various pay-for-performance ideas in the past: that the performance ratings system is inconsistent, unreliable and vulnerable to favoritism and other forms of abuse.