House Democrat seeks limits on agencies’ personnel freedom

A Democratic lawmaker is pushing for limits on federal agencies that want to change their personnel systems.

Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., plans to introduce legislation that would keep agencies from developing pay-for-performance systems and from making other changes to civil service rules until the Office of Personnel Management reviews agencies' plans. Under the legislation, which has yet to be drafted, agencies' leaders would have to show OPM that they sought employee input and that they developed checks and balances to prevent rogue managers from abusing their discretion.

In an April 25 letter to Davis, Comptroller General David Walker said several safeguards should be in place for pay-for-performance systems.

• Performance management systems should be linked to agency's strategic plans to make sure that individuals' work goals are tied to the agency's.
  
• Systems must be designed so that managers make "meaningful distinctions in individual employee performance," Walker wrote.
  
• Employees must be involved in the design of systems, including the selection of evaluation criteria.
  
• Equal employment opportunity offices should be involved in the design and execution of systems.
  
• Agencies must set up internal grievance processes for employees who don't like their reviews.
  
• Panels of career officials must be created to review managers' decisions.
  
• Evaluation processes should be transparent. Agencies can publish the overall results of evaluations while protecting individual confidentiality and issue internal assessments and employee survey results.

"While it is imperative that we take steps to better link employee pay to performance across the federal government, how it is done, when it is done and the basis on which it is done can make all the difference in whether or not such efforts are successful," Walker said in the letter.

Davis is the ranking member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Civil Service. At a subcommittee hearing in early April, Davis asked Walker for the list of safeguards that should be in place before agencies are allowed to use pay-for-performance systems. Walker has revamped the performance management system at the General Accounting Office to tie employee pay raises more closely to the results they produce.

At the hearing, Rep. JoAnn Davis, R-Va., chairwoman of the subcommittee, said she supports pay for performance but wants to make sure changes to the current system are made only after a careful review.

Civil service reformers complain that the current federal personnel system rewards employees too much for longevity and not enough for performance.