SES COMPENSATION AND BONUSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2013
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 12, 1980
• Content Type: MEMO

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/12 : CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
STAT
12 May 1980
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: SES compensation and Bonuses
1. The undersigned contacted Ron Ardley, OPM Executive
Manpower, on 12 May 1980 to clarify the Causey articles,
"Lobbying Saves Executive Bonuses," 9 May 1980, and the-
Monday, 12 May item on NASA bonuses. Copies of these
articles are attached.
2. Ardley stated that the House is primarily concerned
with reducing the amount of SES bonuses to $10,000 as an
inflation-fighting budget-balance effort. House Committee
has approved limiting total SES compensation (basic salary,
awards and stipends) to $60,662.50, the current rate established
for Executive Level II, members of the House and Senate.
Ardley did not know when the Senate would take up this issue;
however, he believed there is less concern. After Senate
Committee and joint Committee action, Congressional passage
is required. This specific action applies to FY-80, although
Ardley believed that it could be extended to FY-81; however,
that was pure speculation. Ardley feels that the $10,000 -
$60,662.50 limit is a compromise that OPM/OMB can live with versus
the original House proposal of dropping SES bonuses completely.
This action, if passed, will have an impact on the 20% bonus
recipient nominated for a stipend. Ardley assumed he might
get a pin, certificate, and handshake and would ?be about all.
3. Of the 240 awards presented by NASA, Ardley believed
this represented about 50% of their SES corps.
Attachments
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/12 : CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for
? B 2 THE WASHINGTON POST
Friday,Alay9,1980
Lobbying Saves
;Executive Bonuses,
,
Intensive lobbying by the right
? people yesterday morning saved?at.
least temporarily--the government's
fledgling executive bonus program.
from death by budgetary strangula-
tion.
..**-
? ;After some VIP calla and" letters:
the House Appropriations Committee
? agreed to let the government give- a
? ? lihitednumber of bonuses; worth Up
? to;$10,000, to the best career bureau-
: irats in the Senior Executive Service.
*Although the $10,000 limit is a
? Itap," it represents a 100 percent
improvement over the suggestion of
. a. subcommittee' that wanted to ban
all: SES bonuses this year. The SES
ii_the elite corps of career and politi- '
- Cal? executives created by President
Carter's civil service reform act ?
1-:When Congress approved the SES,
the idea was to give bonuses and spe-,
cial pay rates to executives who trad-
ed' In much of the tenure and job
Security of the civil service. :But Con-',
gress then whittled back premised
pay raises for the executives,. who
are mostly at the top civil service
'range of $50,000. Then the powerful
purse-strings appropriation commit-
: tee prepared to 11.11 off all bonuses ?
this year. - ?
-Congress Originally approved pay-
ment of agency bonuses worth up to
.20 percent of salary, plus two cate-
gories: of ? presidential-level career
bdnuses of up to $20,000 for a few
outstanding executives. ?
- The $20,000 bonuses promised dis-*
appeared when Congress said that no
' career civil servant could earn more-
- than a- member of the Senate or -
e-House (just over $60,000 a year) in
*total compensation. ?
Administration brass were pre-
pared to live with "watered-down"
$10,000 bonuses. But the alarm bells,
sounded this week when it was learn-,,
ed the ,.Appropriations ;* Committee?
might eliMinate all bonuses...1_,
A* Ir----- Irr_-
Release 2013/08/12: CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
Ill.) and( ,Tis S. Udall (D-Ariz.) got
into the atit. They used the old-boy,
"dear colleague" approach to salvage
the bonus concept. Hanley chairs the,
Post Office-Civil Service Committee,:
Udall and Derwinsld are ranking'
members, and used their influence
with Democrats and Republicans to
-rally probonus sentiment. Rep-Bill
I Ford (D-Mich.), heir-apparent to, the;
? committee chair when Hanley retires,
- called in some prolabor IOUs too.
And President Jimmy Carter got on
the Capitol Hill hotline, sources say,1
to ask that his SES be given a chance .
_
to .prove itself. - - , - :
'1 Carter also dispatched budget
rector James McIntyre Jr., and Alan
K. Campbell of the Office of Person!.,
?el Management, :to drum up save-
the-bonus sentiment . McIntyre is ?
,close to Carter, and Campbell is Car-
ter's expert on the bureaucracy.
They argued that eliminating bo-
: nuses would damage, maylielwreck
the SES. And ther,said would
-amount-to. a-breach of contract with
? th thousand; of career civil servants
-:, who volunteered fore the 'high-risk,-
high-reward
;If the. "limited" $10,000. bcinuses
fie upheld by 'the House- and- the
?Senate,- SES will be able to-deliver.
"of-thexie few financial' incentives
Toitgress and. the White House
isid when they Created it. If the
Vonuses are- lost?and:the dollar _1
:einounts?:, are, relatively
peanuts?a major chunk of the much-:
touted -civil service xeform-- act will
go down the tubes.-: -
" -
Performance----jApPraisals: txter'::
7 administration; aides are prepared Ici?-?
? walk barefoot over hot coals May 13::
and 15:- That-is when they ga befoiti
" the Civil Service subcommittee
ed by Rep: Patricia Sehroeder,
The subject of the'hearings-with'.'
? union officials. alsd' testifying --are
controversial nevi- Performance ap-
praisal systems being worked up by
federal-agencies. Ratings that people
get will determine pay raises, promo-
tions or whether they join the =Alm
of the unemployed: ?.
? Schroeder says the bysteni lathe
backbone of bureaucratic manage!.
reent If the appraisals are fair and
just, she said, everybody will benefit. .
If not, she predicts the Senior Execu-
tive Service will become "a bastion
of politicization, and the merit pair
system will be a cruel fraud."
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/12 : CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/12 : CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/12 : CIA-RDP95-00535R000300130011-8