PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE . . . AWARDS

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. and Local 2477, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Case No. 01 FSIP 6, April 2, 2001 (Release No. 439).

The AGENCY proposed that:

1. The performance award article only reference the current awards program, as outlined in its regulations at LCR 2017-3, and list the types of awards that would qualify for cash allotments, e.g., suggestion awards, special achievement awards, and on-the-spot awards.
2. "The article also would inform employees that non-cash honorary awards are available, including time-off awards, which the parties have agreed to elsewhere...."

The UNION proposed the establishment of a new performance awards program, except for special achievement awards, which would continue according to current regulations. The new performance awards program would operate as follows:

1. Employees would be divided into "pay-deciding units" (PDU) for awards purposes.
2. Each PDU would operate under a "Pay Deciding Official, unless the parties agree otherwise."
3. "Within 30 days of the issuance of awards, the Union would be notified of the amount of money in the annual awards budget for each PDU." The Agency would be obliged to "fully utilize the awards budget."
4. Employees who are rated "'excellent' normally would receive a performance award" and employees who receive an "outstanding" annual performance rating would receive a performance award or a quality step increase.
5. Employees who are rated "outstanding" would receive between $500 and $2,000; those rated "excellent" would receive between $400 and $1,500. Similarly situated employees, i.e., same PDU, same grade level, and equivalent performance ratings, "could expect to receive similar awards."
6. Awards would be presented to employees within 60 days of their performance ratings or by the end of the fiscal year, at the latest.
7. "The Union would be notified of the awards decision for each PDU, with the information to include the grade, series, performance rating, and award received, if any, for each employee in the PDU."

The PANEL ordered the parties to adopt the following modified version of the AGENCY's proposal:

The Library agrees to continue its present awards program as outlined in LCR 2017-3, Suggestion and Incentive Awards Program, which provides for cash and/or honorary awards for:

1. Invention or Suggestion
2. Special Achievement
3. On-the Spot Awards
4. Honorary Awards for Meritorious, Superior and Distinguished Service.

The parties have agreed to a separate article for Time-Off Awards.

The Library will provide the Union with an annual summary of awards given to bargaining-unit employees, including, at a minimum, the number of bargaining-unit employees; the number of awards given to them; the percentage of bargaining-unit employees receiving awards; the award amounts; and the number of awards given broken down by grades, departments, and performance ratings of the recipients.