THE DAILY BLADE: Pay For (Under)Performance
It seems impossible to fire government employees - unionized or not. Case in point: The House actually has to pass a law – rather, sneak in a provision to the must-pass annual Defense Authorization bill – that prevents federal employees whose job performance is unacceptable to receive an annual pay raise. And even if the provision survives, it will affect few workers, The Washington Post reports:
Most federal employees have their performance rated annually, commonly on four- or five-level scales in which “unacceptable,” or a similar term, is the lowest rating. Those ratings are used in decisions such as promotions and awards, but annual raises typically are paid across the board regardless of performance ratings.
“Currently, all federal civilian employees, no matter how they are rated on their performance, receive the annual nationwide adjustment in January of each year,” a House committee report on the defense bill said. …
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is eager to enact a pay-for-performance system, but failed earlier this year to have it included as part of the House GOP’s 2012 budget proposals.
“Americans believe in pay for performance,” Issa said in a statement issued late Wednesday. “The federal pay system is not a pay for performance system. This provision moves us in the right direction, because it stops rewarding non-performers.” …
The bill’s language would effectively be a moot point for 2012 because federal salary schedules already have been frozen in place for next year under a two-year pay freeze law enacted late in 2010. Even moving forward, the language likely would affect relatively few employees - the report says that at Defense, for example, only about 1 percent of employees receive a rating of unacceptable.
Cause And Effect
Gingrich: Tiffany's Debt Paid Off
- USA Today, May 22, 2011
Tiffany 1Q Earnings Up 25 Pct, Raises Year View
- The Associated Press, May 26, 2011
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