EPA warned of ex-official’s illegal salary, bonuses in 2010, watchdog report says

Washington Post ^ | December 10, 2013 | By Larry Bernstein

[Brad from Tennessee]

The Environmental Protection Agency was warned as early as July 2010 that a senior executive who claimed to be a CIA agent was collecting pay and bonuses not allowed by law but took no action for years, according to a new report from the agency’s inspector general.

Auditors warned EPA administrators that continuing “retention bonuses” for John C. Beale, which were not authorized, had pushed his salary above the legal maximum, according to the report, obtained Tuesday by The Washington Post.

In July 2010, the EPA’s human resources office contacted Beale’s Office of Air and Radiation with a document it had prepared titled “John Beale Pay Issues,” according to the report. The head of Beale’s department was Gina McCarthy, who is now the head of the EPA. The report does not make clear whether the document was given to her.

A code on Beale’s timecard, approved by the Office of Personnel Management, initially allowed his salary to exceed legal limits.

On Jan. 12, 2011, the EPA’s Office of General Counsel warned McCarthy’s staff to “stop retention bonus pay,” and McCarthy was asked to inform Beale, according to the report. But on April 2, 2012, McCarthy “confirmed no actions taken on retention bonus due to advice” from the head of the human resources department, according to the report.

[bgill]

More governmnet waste and under the table pay offs with our tax dollars.

[SgtHooper]

Beale gets around. Wasn’t he the guy on Trading Spaces who delivered the orange futures?