A new hire at the Environmental Protection Agency hit the jackpot when the employee’s new bosses awarded her $9,000 in performance bonuses for less than three months of work.
The EPA’s inspector general said the newly hired director of the environmental agency’s RTP Finance Center in Raleigh was paid two separate performance bonuses of $4,500 shortly after beginning work.
“The total award amount of $9,000 represents approximately 25 percent of the Director’s salary for that 3-month time period. Based on discussions with OCFO management, this was an unprecedented amount for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer for such a short period of time after being hired,” the EPA IG said in a report made public Monday.
The awards were permitted under federal personnel regulations, but employees interviewed by the EPA IG said they could not recall similar awards being given so quickly after an employee began work.
“The manager said there were internal discussions of potential awards and how management felt the need to treat the new director ‘well,’ the IG said. “The EPA staff and managers interviewed believed the new director’s accomplishments supported the awards and her performance was substantially beyond expectations. However, several OCFO managers did say that they have never seen such award amounts given in such a short period of time and within 3 months of being hired.”
The IG also pointed out that the acting CFO “was aware of the first award,” but “he said he was surprised by the second.”
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