FAA withholds bonuses for top executives

Citing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration will not award performance bonuses to its top executives this year, Jane Garvey, FAA administrator said Thursday. "I am convinced this is the right decision in light of the extraordinary events of Sept. 11," Garvey wrote in a memo e-mailed to the agency's 180 executives Thursday morning. A FAA spokesman declined further comment, saying Garvey's missive speaks for itself. The FAA 's personnel system is separate from other federal agencies' because it is exempt from Title 5 of the U.S. Code, which dictates standard personnel rules for the federal government. Under the FAA system, executives forgo traditional pay raises and bonuses in favor of cash bonuses of up to 5 percent of their annual salary if they meet performance goals. Before Sept. 11, the agency had planned to hand out about $1 million in bonuses for fiscal 2001. Garvey praised agency executives for "responding magnificently" to the attacks, but added, "I know you, like I, have asked yourselves what we could have done better to help prevent the attacks in the first place." Garvey went on to cite the "disruption" of air transportation following Sept. 11 as the key reason top executives fell short of their performance goals for fiscal 2001. "The money used by not making executive payouts will be used to offset some of the large and unplanned security costs that the FAA is incurring," Garvey added. A senior executive at the agency criticized the decision and said top management was being unfairly singled out for a situation that was beyond their control. "What could air traffic control have done to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks?," he asked. Congress has had qualms with FAA's plans to hand out bonuses. Even prior to Sept. 11, lawmakers had suggested that the agency consider cutting its bonus program for top executives by half.