| Comment Number: | OL-10500885 |
| Received: | 2/22/2005 1:07:58 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Reference Subpart C / 9901.342 (d)(1). Local market supplements (LMS) should not be excluded from the basic pay figure used when a percentage of pay is used to express performance shares. Excluding LMS would continue a confusing feature of the current performance award system, which also bases performance awards on a percentage of basic pay that excludes locality adjustments. This leads to confusion and irritation among employees, who are told they are getting an x% of pay performance award, only to find out the percentage is based on an annual pay figure that none of them recognize and that is less than their actual pay. LMS is considered part of basic pay for nearly all meaningful purposes affecting the employee -- retirement, life insurance, premium pay, etc. -- so it should also be included when expressing performance shares as a percentage of salary.