Federal Employee Bonuses Capped

The Obama administration is trying a different tack on federal-employee bonuses and awards in fiscal 2014.

A new directive from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management continues clear-cut spending caps on employee awards but won't outright ban them — even if the across-the-board spending constraints, known as sequestration, continue.

"Given the current fiscal environment and the budget constraints agencies will operate under in FY 2014, it is critical that agencies' use of performance awards be managed in a manner that is cost-effective and leads to increased employee performance and organizational results," OMB Director Sylvia Burwell and former acting OPM Director Elaine Kaplan wrote in a Nov. 1 memo to the heads of federal agencies and departments.
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