Suggested Changes to Pay Rules Raise Concerns About Fairness, Conflict of Interest
|
|
The president’s chief adviser on the civil service has been presented with options on how to address pay inequities faced by some inspectors general, and efforts also are underway to rethink the pay rules for administrative law judges. Linda M. Springer , director of the Office of Personnel Management, said she expects to be sorting out compensation proposals for both groups in coming weeks. At issue is a Bush administration principle that job performance should be a factor in setting pay for government employees and whether that principle can be applied to IGs and ALJs without damaging or weakening their independence. Revamping pay practices for both groups will probably require congressional approval, Springer said. “We’ve got to make sure we consider all the options carefully,” she said, because any change “has got to stand up to the scrutiny that is given to a legislative proposal.” Pay has become a concern for inspectors general, particularly those who came to their jobs from the career civil service, because of a recent law that increased Senior Executive Service pay scales. The fiscal 2004 law also made SES annual pay raises dependent on performance evaluations and eliminated an annual, geographic-based adjustment. The suggestion that salaries for inspectors general could hinge on a performance evaluation from their agency heads has raised issues of fairness and possible conflicts of interest, Springer said. IGs investigate their agencies for waste, fraud and mismanagement and report their findings to Congress. IG jobs are supposed to be viewed as independent and above partisan politics. More : washingtonpost.com |