A Closer Inspection of Airport Screeners' Pay

Looks as if the Transportation Security Administration is in for a new round of scrutiny.

The Senate last week, as part of the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill, asked the TSA for a report on the pay system that covers about 40,000 passenger and baggage screeners at airports.

The need for a report, as called for in the bill, was partly prompted by concerns from TSA employees over whether the system, which began in April 2006, is working as intended. Senate aides said the report, due in March, should help them sort through confusion about types of pay and how raises are distributed.

Under the system, TSA screeners receive an annual pay raise and locality adjustment, similar to those provided other federal employees, and may receive an additional raise and bonus based on their job performance ratings.

This year, for example, a screener rated at the highest level received a 1.7 percent raise, an average locality adjustment of 0.5 percent, a 5 percent performance raise and a $3,000 lump-sum bonus.

The National Treasury Employees Union said only a small percentage of the transportation security officers, as the screeners are called, at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport had received job ratings that permitted them to qualify for a merit-based salary increase.

"Allegations of favoritism and cronyism surround the system because there is no meaningful way for employees to challenge their ratings," Colleen M. Kelley, the union's president, said in a statement.

Ellen Howe, a TSA spokeswoman, said she was not aware of the complaints. She said that the new system had been set up in consultation with employees and that the TSA expects to make adjustments over time. "With any new program, you are going to go along and get feedback to make it better," she said.

The TSA paid about $37 million in performance-based pay and bonuses in the second half of 2006, after the system's start. Howe said $58 million more was paid to employees in February.

In the most recent ratings, 96 percent of screeners were rated as achieving or exceeding TSA performance standards, making them eligible for cash bonuses, TSA said.

The TSA is one of the few large agencies operating with a performance-based pay system, though efforts are underway to implement similar systems at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Unions have filed lawsuits to stop the new systems, however, saying they jeopardize union rights in the workplace. The litigation has slowed those systems, and the Senate last week pulled back funding for the pay project at the Department of Homeland Security.

In the 2008 appropriations bill, the Senate provided $5 million out of the $15 million sought for the new system. The House approved no funding, saying that money should not be spent until "all pending litigation is resolved."

The White House has objected to the congressional efforts to limit funding or delay the new personnel system for Homeland Security.

A Farewell at State

Ambassador George M. Staples, director general of the Foreign Service and director of human resources at the State Department, retires today after 35 years of federal service, including 26 years in the Foreign Service.

As director general, he pushed for new ways to recruit diplomats, overseeing the inauguration of a shorter written exam and a more streamlined hiring procedure.

During his career, he served as political adviser to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe at NATO, as ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and as deputy chief of mission in Bahrain and Zimbabwe.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.