2:30 PM- 3:45PM EBSA Sharon Watson Director, Office of Participant Assistance Schweizer Director, Office of Technology and Information Technology Services Mabel Capolongo Director, Office of Enforcement Joel Lovelace Acting Director, Office of Program Planning, Evaluation and Management James Hampton Chief, Division of Human Capital Management Chrystal Jordan Senior Management Analyst Earsie Johnson ODLRN Peter Beil ODLRN The NCFLL Executive Committee officers present were EVP Weyrauch; Treasurer Newberry; and VPs Darby, England, Sax, Tracy, Tucker, and Walters. President DeMay, RS Laurie, and VP Nolan were at the sequestration negotiating. Treasurer Newberry left at 2:52 p.m. in order to meet with MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main. Please discuss the methodology used in the calculation of employee performance award bonuses for FY 2012. (DL) Hampton said that EBSA does not tell the region how to rate the employees or divide the bonus pool. Two employees that got rated Highly Effective may get differing bonuses because one exceeded three elements and the other exceeded four elements. The region is the PDU. DPR 430 says that if an employee got a promotion in the performance year, he/she may get a different performance bonus compared to someone who did not. Please discuss with the what plans your agency has to deal with the impending sequestration. Will these plans include furloughs or RIFs? (RS) Beil said sequestration bargaining is ongoing this week. Lovelace said that as of today there will be no furloughs but that everything may change on March 27 when the CR expires. New performance standards are implemented for Benefit Advisors. What is the effective date of the new performance standards? Since the new standards are being implemented during the FY 2013 performance rating period, will an interim rating be prepared for Benefit Advisors for work they performed under their previous standards? (DL)
Watson stated that the standards were implemented with the pay period beginning January 27, 2013. were no interim standards. They were not on standards before January 27. If the BA did any work with positive outcome prior to January 27, the NO has instructed the supervisors to give them credit. Any work with negative outcome prior to January 27 will not be counted. One example of saving time and is to stop sending of employees from Cincinnati to work in the greater Detroit area. Driving time alone takes the entire day, requiring an overnight stay, while the Detroit DO is just a few miles away. This occurs in many locations and agencies. Please discuss. (BT) Capolongo said the Cincinnati RD assigns He will normally assign Detroit cases to the Detroit office. Sometimes this does not work and he has to assign Cincinnati investigators to Detroit cases. VP Tucker said Detroit employees are concerned about a potential closure of the Detroit office. He asked if EBSA was planning to close the Detroit office. Capolongo said EBSA has made no final decision. VP Tucker asked if it is a possibility. Capolongo replied that there are a “variety of possibilities”, “many options are on the table”, and “no final decision has been made”. VP Tucker said he could read between the lines and asked for a follow up in the September LMR meeting. FOLLOW UP Please provide an update on the DRAFT Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 33-12 involving a pilot program of limited scope employee contribution compliance reviews by Benefits Advisors. (DL) Watson said 200 reviews have been closed. One has been referred for investigation. It will be a while before there is a report, but a report will be completed before the end of the FY. VP Tucker asked for a follow-up at the September LMR. FOLLOW UP Please provide an update on the Enforcement Management System. (DL) Capolongo told everyone that a review in January showed a few problems but they were corrected. One said “No User Account” but this happened when an investigator moved from one office to the next. This has been corrected. Most problems were corrected within a half hour or so. Please discuss any plans for providing advanced training for Investigators/Auditors and/or Benefits Advisors. (DL)