eyecue

This is so true: https://www.revealnews.org/article/t...d-big-bonuses/

chollie

eyecue, I don't know if you are allowed to answer this:

Are 'regular' TSA employees - the folks I see at the checkpoint and who screen my checked bags - are they also eligible for cash awards, performance awards and bonuses?

Or are these just perks for the suits?

eyecue

PM me I would love to shed light on this. Short answer is yes.

Randyk47

Speaking as a career Federal employee and a somewhat higher level manager have had up to 150 people work for me I can say every employee is eligible for awards and bonuses. Technically all are somewhat tied to performance. Some are scaled according to their grade or their specific pay and some are generic in the sense that the upward limit is set by OPM and agency policies and guidelines. Naturally Senior Executive Service employees are at the upper end of the food chain and like any business being boss is better in a lot of ways.

Boggie Dog

Perhaps you can answer this question.

Federal employee pay is published by OPM on various pay schedules. Where does the authority derive from to pay more than that employee is entitled to per their grade and step?

Randyk47

Buried in the policies and guidelines there is a caveat or caveats that allow an agency to pay above the grade and step for a particularly highly qualified employee. Usually the authority to do so rest with the agency head and is highly restrictive. There are also special groups or classes of employees who qualify for what is generally called "professional pay" which is above and beyond the grade and step scale. Examples are doctors, scientist, and lawyers though the agency may add other professions or individuals. None of this has any bearing on awards, bonuses, or other incentives which are above and beyond the salary caps.

eyecue

Remember though that TSA is not under title 5.

LoganTSO

Yes. No GS and SES. Instead we have pay-for-performance pay bands with the pay code of SV for us TSOs. And SW for the TSES (the TSA version of the Senior Executive Service [SES]).

Hoggan is TSES.

Boggie Dog

TSA even screwed up the payroll.

LoganTSO

Somewhat. I wish we were on GS.

But ATSA required TSA essentially adopt the FAA's personnel and compensation system. FAA transitioned to their pay band "core compensation" system a year before 9/11. So, just like FAA, TSA has a "core compensation" pay band system instead of the GS grade and step system.

Randyk47

DoD had the abortive National Security Personnel System (NSPS) from 2006 to 2012. It was a pay band system with supposedly more emphasis on performance. The unions were heavily against it and pressed the Obama administration to do away with the system and succeeded in 2009 with an effective date of 1 January 2012 to return all DoD employees back to the GS pay and performance system. My take was it was a good system for higher graded or banded employees and maybe not so good for the rest. Of course a lot depended on performance and how well your supervisor was in working the very complicated system to document that performance. Will say that it set up a very competitive bidding system for new or transferring employees and during the three full years it was in place some, even at the lower levels, did very well.

willpolice4food

TSA was supposed to comply YESTERDAY with misconduct probe of TSA senior executives :

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-conte...p-due-2-19.pdf

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz wrote:

"Your unwillingness to allow those witnesses to appear voluntarily for transcribed interviews may require the Committee to issue subpoenas that compel their testimony under oath, among other things."

In December the Committee launched a probe into misconduct among TSA senior executives, and also an inquiry into how the agency handles misconduct.

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/tsa-...conduct-probe/

Boggie Dog

Misconduct by TSA employees? How could that be?

eyecue

When the roots are rotting, the whole tree dies.

Boggie Dog

I believe that the corporate culture is responsible for much of TSA's problems. TSA is not, nor has it ever been, on the front lines of the war on terror. TSA screeners are not law enforcement, not sworn officers, and their appearance in fake cop garb sends the wrong message. The excessive, heavy handed secrecy employed by TSA also is off putting. Not everything TSA does is or should be SSI. I agree that senior TSA management is significant problem as is everyone else in TSA including the people hired today.

Example of a TSA problem: Retaliatation. Example, transiting MIA TSA. Exiting WBI a screener made a sudden move towards me and I stepped back. He said something and I responded that I was having trouble hearing him so he spoke even softer and became threatening best I could tell. I was able to catch a word here and there but the gist was I wasn't cooperating when the problem was I couldn't hear over the checkpoint noise and the screener refused to accomodate my poor hearing. I left the checkpoint with a poor opinion of that screener, TSA MIA, and TSA in general which reinforced my already negative opinion of TSA.

The model TSA is operating under is flawed. Passengers are not the enemy, we are not convicts, nor are we trying to harm our fellow travelers. I realize that screeners are finding some handguns, knives, and other weapons but in reality those items represent a tiny fraction of travelers. I support criminal prosecution of anyone who carries a weapon into a checkpoint but not the kangaroo court of an Administrative Law Judge. I think that TSA should restructure and limit itself to screening for WEI only. No BDO, no ID checks, no TSA BS.

TSA is its own worst enemy!