Group
Retention Allowances
| Description |
An agency may pay a
retention allowance of up to 10 percent of basic
pay (or up to 25 percent with Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) approval) to a group or category
of employees if--
- the unusually high or unique
qualifications of the employees or
a special need of the agency for the
employees' services makes it essential to
retain the employees in the group, and
- it is reasonable to presume that there is
a high risk that a significant number of
employees in the targeted group would be
likely to leave the Federal service for
any reason in absence of the allowance.
|
| Position Coverage
|
Group-based
retention allowances may be paid to current
Federal employees holding a General Schedule (GS), prevailing
rate (wage), or another type of position for which
such payments have been approved by OPM.
Exception: An agency may not authorize a
group-based retention allowance for groups of
senior-level and scientific or professional
(SL/ST) employees, Senior Executive Service (SES)
members, Executive Schedule positions,
Presidential appointees, or similar positions.
|
Defining
the
Group |
An agency must
narrowly define the targeted group of employees
to be paid a retention allowance using factors
such as occupational series, grade level,
distinctive job duties, unique qualifications,
assignment to a special project, minimum agency
service requirements, organization or team
designation, geographic location, and performance
level. (Note: An agency may not establish
performance level as the sole or primary basis
for authorizing a retention allowance.)
|
| Likely to Leave
|
To support its
determination that there is a high risk that a
significant number of employees in the group
targeted to receive a retention allowance are
likely to leave, the agency should gather
evidence of extreme labor market conditions, high
demand in the private sector for the knowledge
and skills possessed by the employees,
significant disparities between Federal and
private sector salaries, and/or other similar
conditions.
|
| OPM Approval |
Agency requests to
OPM for approval of a group retention allowance
in excess of 10 percent, but not more than 25
percent, of basic pay must include--
- a description of the group and the number
of employees to be covered by the
proposed retention allowance,
- a written determination that the group of
employees meets the conditions for
payment,
- the proposed percentage retention
allowance payment and a justification for
that percentage,
- the expected duration of retention
allowance payments, and
- any other information pertinent to the
case at hand.
These requests must be submitted by the agency
head (or designee). OPM may require that such
requests be coordinated with other agencies with
similar employees.
|
| Other Provisions
|
An agency may pay a
group-based retention allowance to any individual
in the targeted group if all other conditions and
requirements for payment of a retention allowance
are met. For example, a retention allowance may
not be paid during the service period for an existing recruitment or relocation bonus
service agreement. Also, a retention allowance
may not be authorized or continued if the
payments would cause the employee's projected
aggregate compensation in a calendar year to
exceed the rate for level I of the Executive
Schedule. (See Retention Allowances fact sheet.)
|
| References |
5 U.S.C. 5754
5 CFR part 575, subpart C (as amended on
December 22, 1999--see 64 FR 71633)
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