At least five Bush Cabinet secretaries authorized tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses for senior employees, both political appointees and career civil servants, in the closing minutes of their tenures.

Five minutes before Bill Clinton took the oath of offce fin January 1993], outgoing Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan proposed $170,000 in bonusesfor 12 senior career officials at the Interior Department.

Former Labor Secretary Lynn Martin awarded eight bonuses totaling $22,000 for departing political appointees between November 1 and Inauguration Day, and the Agriculture Department gave year-end bonuses ofup to $12,500 to more than 50 senior employees, spokesmen said. Several senior employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development also received bonuses, according to a department source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

1026 PART VII Performance Evaluation In his last weeks in office, former Attorney General William Ban' awarded more than $108,000 in bonuses to 31Justice Department employees, including members ofhis security detail, his secretary and two of his closest aides.

The practice ofgiving cash bonuses to government employees is legal, and Bush administration officials say it occurred under earlier presidents.

[SOURCE: Marcy Gordon, “Bush Officials Awarded Bonuses at Last Minute,” [New Orleans] Times-Picayune (February 11, 1993) p. A17.]

a. The proposed bonuses were to be reviewed as to merit, but the deadline for such bonuses was January 22, so they were within the appropriate time frame. Regardless of merit, what is your opinion about the timing of the bonus nominations? Provide some valid reasons why bonus nominations might need to wait until after the end of the calendar year.

b. Because many of the individuals to receive bonuses will not be retained by the new administration, the bonus pay could not have a retention basis. What are the ethical issues of paying bonuses to government employees in the current environment of a skyrocketing federal government deficit?

c. Do you see an ethical problem in outgoing government employees receiving bonuses at the “last hour?” Would your answer differ if the organization under consideration were a business being taken over by new management rather than the government? Discuss the rationale for your answers.