Retention Allowances: Usage and Compliance Vary Among Federal Agencies.

This report reviews federal agencies use of retention allowances as salary supplements to retain essential employees. The General Accounting Office GAO was asked to report on 1 the total and average values of the allowances, as well as the highest values of individual allowances, at selected federal agencies for the period 1991 through 1994 2 the extent to which Senior Executive Service SES employees are receiving retention allowances 3 any compliance issues identified during limited review of agencies retention allowance awards 4 whether agencies are preparing retention allowance plans in accordance with Office of Personnel Management OPM regulations and 5 the extent to which OPM is performing oversight of the use of retention allowances. The retention allowance authority was established by section 208 of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 FEPCA. The act required OPM to issue government wide regulations on retention allowances, which it did on March 28,1991. The act and OPM5 implementing regulations require agencies to document that 1 each allowance paid is based on a determination that unusually high or unique qualifications of the employee or a special need of the agency for the employees services makes it essential to retain the employee and 2 in the absence of such an allowance, the employee would be likely to leave federal employment. The agency must also document the extent to which the employees departure would affect the agencys ability to carry out an activity or perform a function deemed essential to the agencys mission.