U.S. Office of Personnel ManagementVariations to Pay and Leave Regulations |
NOTICE AND POSTING SYSTEM
Notice No: 98-7 | Washington, DC 20415 |
Date: February 2, 1998 |
Notice of OPM Variations
AGENCIES: THIS NOTICE PROVIDES INFORMATION RELATIVE TO VARIATION REQUESTS. Section 5.1 of civil service rule V requires the Office of Personnel Management to inform agencies about variations which it grants under that rule.
Heads of Departments and Independent Establishments:
Variation of the Requirement to Make a Prior Written Determination to Pay a Recruitment Bonus
This notice describes a variation that was granted to the
Department of Justice to ratify retroactively the payment of a
recruitment bonus to an employee who entered on duty before the
written determination to pay the bonus. Under 5 CFR
575.104(c)(1), an approving official's determination to pay a
recruitment bonus "shall be made before the employee
actually enters on duty."
This case involves the payment of a recruitment bonus to a
physician who was given a career-conditional appointment on June
22, 1997, as a medical officer at a Federal Correctional
Institution (FCI). After experiencing considerable difficulty in
recruiting highly qualified candidates, FCI offered the medical
officer position to the selected candidate with the understanding
that his salary package would include a superior qualifications
appointment, a physicians' comparability allowance, and a
10-percent recruitment bonus. The physician accepted the position
and signed a 24-month recruitment bonus service agreement on May
7, 1997. FCI sent a well-documented request for authority to pay
the recruitment bonus to the Federal Bureau of Prisons
headquarters on May 28, 1997. For reasons unrelated to the merits
of paying the bonus, Bureau headquarters failed to act on the
bonus request prior to the physician's entrance on duty.
This variation was approved because Department of Justice
management established its intent to pay and offered the employee
the bonus before the employee entered on duty, and a
determination was made that the position would be difficult to
fill without the bonus.
This variation is similar to a variation to pay a relocation
bonus approved by OPM for a position in the Environmental
Protection Agency. (See OPM Provisional Notice No. 575-2 of May
25, 1994.)
Section 5.1 of civil service rule V requires that variations be
granted in like circumstances. Therefore, if any agency believes
it has a case that parallels the one described in this bulletin,
it may request a variation. A variation is appropriate, however,
only when no other authority exists to remedy the hardship.
Agencies do not have the authority to approve variations.
Requests for variations should be sent through the headquarters
of the agency involved and transmitted to the Office of Personnel
Management.
[SIGNED]
Janice R. Lachance
Director
Distribution: Former Basic FPM
Inquiries: Workforce Compensation and Performance Service
Office of Compensation Administration
Pay and Leave Administration Division
(202) 606-0830
Updated 25 February 1998