II 

Calendar No. 386 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 742 

[Report No. 114–226] 

To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to employees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16, 2015 

Ms. AYOTTE (for herself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mrs. FISCHER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

MARCH 14, 2016 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to 

employees. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Wasteful Federal 

5 Bonuses Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BONUSES. 

2 (a) ADVERSE FINDINGS AND EMPLOYEES UNDER IN3 VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘Subchapter IV—Limitations on Bonus 

6 Authority 

7 ‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘adverse finding’ relating to an 

10 employee means a determination that the conduct of 

11 the employee— 

12 ‘‘(A) violated a policy of the agency for 

13 which the employee may be removed or sus14 pended; or 

15 ‘‘(B) violated a law for which the employee 

16 may be imprisoned of more than 1 year; 

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given 

18 that term under section 551; and 

19 ‘‘(3) the term ‘bonus’ means any bonus or cash 

20 award, including— 

21 ‘‘(A) an award under this chapter; 

22 ‘‘(B) an award under section 5384; and 

23 ‘‘(C) a retention bonus under section 5754. 

24 ‘‘(b) ADVERSE FINDINGS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency 

26 shall not award a bonus to an employee of the agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S742.RS S742

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1 cy until 5 years after the end of the fiscal year in 

2 which the Inspector General or another senior ethics 

3 official of the agency or the Comptroller General of 

4 the United States makes an adverse finding relating 

5 to the employee. 

6 ‘‘(2) PREVIOUSLY AWARDED BONUSES.—If the 

7 Inspector General or another senior ethics official of 

8 the agency or the Comptroller General of the United 

9 States makes an adverse finding relating to an em10 ployee, the head of the agency employing the em11 ployee, after notice and an opportunity for a hear12 ing, shall issue an order directing the employee to 

13 repay the amount of any bonus awarded to the em14 ployee during the year during which the adverse 

15 finding is made.’’. 

16 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

17 The table of sections for chapter 45 of title 5, United 

18 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY

‘‘4531. Certain forms of misconduct.’’. 

20 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

21 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Wasteful Federal 

22 Bonuses Act of 2015’’. 


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•S 742 RS

1 SEC. 2. BONUSES. 

2 (a) ADVERSE FINDINGS AND EMPLOYEES UNDER IN3 VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘Subchapter IV—Limitations on Bonus 

6 Authority 

7 ‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) ADVERSE FINDING.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘adverse find11 ing’ means a determination by the head of the 

12 agency employing an employee that the conduct 

13 of the employee— 

14 ‘‘(i) violated a policy of the agency for 

15 which the employee may be removed or sus16 pended for a period of not less than 14 

17 days; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) violated a law for which the em19 ployee may be imprisoned for more than 1 

20 year. 

21 ‘‘(B) BASIS.—A determination described in 

22 subparagraph (A) may be based on an investiga23 tion by, determination of, or information pro24 vided by the Inspector General or another senior 

25 ethics official of an agency or the Comptroller 

26 General of the United States, as part of carrying 


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1 out an activity, authority, or function of the In2 spector General, senior ethics official, or Comp3 troller General, respectively, under a provision of 

4 law other than this section. 

5 ‘‘(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the mean6 ing given that term under section 551. 

7 ‘‘(3) BONUS.—The term ‘bonus’ means any per8 formance award or cash award under— 

9 ‘‘(A) section 4505a; 

10 ‘‘(B) section 5384; or 

11 ‘‘(C) section 5754. 

12 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—The head of an agency shall not 

13 award a bonus to an employee of the agency until 5 years 

14 after the end of the fiscal year during which the head of 

15 an agency makes an adverse finding relating to the em16 ployee. 

17 ‘‘(c) AFTER BONUS AWARDED.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For a bonus awarded to an 

19 employee after the date of enactment of this section, 

20 if the head of the agency employing the employee 

21 makes an adverse finding relating to the employee 

22 during the year during which the bonus is awarded, 

23 the head of the agency, after notice and an oppor24 tunity for a hearing, shall issue an order directing 

25 the employee to repay the amount of the bonus. 


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1 ‘‘(2) HEARINGS.—A hearing under this para2 graph shall be conducted in accordance with regula3 tions relating to hearings promulgated by the head of 

4 the agency under chapter 75. 

5 ‘‘(d) CONDITION OF RECEIPT.—As a condition of re6 ceiving a bonus awarded after the date of enactment of this 

7 section, an employee of an agency shall sign a certification 

8 stating that the employee shall repay the bonus in accord9 ance with a final order issued in accordance with subsection 

10 (c). 

11 ‘‘(e) APPEAL.—An employee determined to be ineli12 gible for a bonus under subsection (b) or against whom an 

13 order is issued under subsection (c) may appeal to the Merit 

14 Systems Protection Board under section 7701.’’. 

15 (b) RULEMAKING.—The head of each agency (as de16 fined under title 551 of title 5, United States Code) may 

17 promulgate rules to carry out section 4531 of title 5, United 

18 States Code, as added by subsection (a). 

19 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

20 table of sections for chapter 45 of title 5, United States 

21 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY

‘‘4531. Certain forms of misconduct.’’. 


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SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 386 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 742 

[Report No. 114–226] 

A BILL 

To appropriately limit the authority to award 

bonuses to employees. 

MARCH 14, 2016 

Reported with an amendment 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS