OPM Publishes Final Rules on Pay Under the 3Rs

On August 14, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published final rules to improve oversight of recruitment and retention incentive determinations, add succession planning to the list of factors that an agency must consider before approving a retention incentive, and make additional minor clarifications and corrections.

The new rules, which go into effect September 13, 2013, make changes to the way agencies evaluate and award recruitment, retention, and relocation (3R) bonuses.

According to Federal Daily, many of the incentives have gone to IT workers and managers in the past; they often have been used to help agencies compete with the private sector in terms of salary and incentives, the report said. “Among other things, the new rules clarify that agencies can ask OPM for waivers to allow them offer recruitment incentives above a 25 percent payment limit for one or more positions based on a critical agency need,” reports Federal Daily.

Go to Federal Register to read the complete rules.