The Government Accountability Office and its union, the GAO Employees Organization, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 1921, have reached a tentative agreement on the GAO’s performance-based pay adjustment.

[IMGCAP(1)]The agreement, hashed out in two weeks, calls for a 2.65 percent “budget factor,— which will be paid out to employees relative to their standing within their particular performance group. The agreement, which only applies to those employees who receive a “meets expectations— performance review, means that employees in the middle of their performance group would receive a 2.65 percent raise.

Those at the top relative to their performance group could receive up to 4.2 percent, while those at the bottom would likely get only 1.2 percent, says Ronald La Due Lake, the GAO union president.

The agreement is retroactive to Jan. 4 and covers approximately 1,500 GAO analysts and specialists. It will take effect after certain legal steps are taken and it has been ratified by the GAO union.

The 2.65 percent performance-based raise comes on top of a previously announced 4.78 percent cost-of-living adjustment for the current fiscal year approved in January for GAO employees in the D.C. metro area, the same COLA as other federal workers who are under the government’s General Schedule pay scale.

“With GAO’s strong performance this past year in assisting the Congress and improving government operations, our employees have been working hard,— acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said in a statement.

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