CDC Managers Reap Bonuses

Most of the large bonuses handed out to employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention go to administrative managers, not scientists, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday. Among the theories as to why this is the case:

• The President's Management Agenda has stressed the improvement of administrative systems (and rewards for those who make progress in this area), but no corresponding effort has taken place in the scientific arena.
• About 800 of the CDC's 4,200 scientific employees are members of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which operates under a different personnel system, making them ineligible for the awards. Another 600 600 "distinguished" scientists weren't eligible for annual performance awards until last fall.

Several employees have received multiple cash awards for special achievements in a single year.

By the way, the paper also reprinted a memo CDC Director Julie Gerberding sent to all employees before the article was printed, warning that the amount of some employees' awards would likely be made public. "The reality of working for the federal government," she wrote, "is that some pay and benefits information, which most people are allowed to keep private, is not private for us."