Personnel Practices

Retroactive appointments were common during the early months of the Clinton administration. Through April 14, 1993, the White House made 611 new appointments, 136 of which were retroactive to the first pay period of the new administration. Retroactive salary payments totaled about $335,000, ranging from $88 to $11,500. White House personnel files certified that the staffers had actually worked during the retroactive periods, and GAO concludes that they were entitled to be paid for their work. Although some retroactive appointments may be unavoidable during any change of administration, several irregular personnel actions also occurred. For example, 25 new appointees ended up being paid simultaneously by the White House and the General Services Administration's presidential transition appropriations. GAO also found one case in which annual leave was advanced improperly, one instance in which a staffer was kept on the payroll after his temporary appointment had expired, and nine cases in which employees were overpaid. Efforts are under way to correct these problems. The White House and the Justice Department believe that the President has absolute authority to make retroactive pay adjustments and need not justify his actions, so long as the compensation is for services performed and does not exceed the specified pay cap. On that basis, GAO concludes that the retroactive pay increases were proper; however, GAO has reservations about whether this broad interpretation of the law clearly reflects Congress' intent concerning the scope of the President's authority.

GAO found that: (1) the individuals that received retroactive appointments were entitled to receive pay for their work; (2) 12 of the 20 retroactive pay increases were proper under the President's authority; (3) the remaining retroactive pay increases were questionable and inconsistent with generally applicable federal personnel rules; and (4) 14 of 147 new EOP employees did not file required financial disclosure reports in a timely manner.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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