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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
14-P-0245
May 2, 2014
Why We Did This Review
On August 27, 2013, a member
of the U.S. Senate Committee
on Environment and Public
Works requested that the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), Office of
Inspector General (OIG),
initiate work in connection with
a fraud committed by John C.
Beale, a former Senior Policy
Advisor with the EPA's Office of
Air and Radiation. In particular,
the committee member asked
the OIG to determine EPA
policies and processes that
"facilitated" Beale's fraud.
Although the EPA authorized
retention incentive pay to Beale
until 2003, the agency
continued to make retention
incentive payments to him until
2013.
This report addresses the
following EPA theme:
• Embracing EPA as a high
performing organization.
For further information,
contact our public affairs office
at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2014/
20140502-14-P-0245.pdf
EPA Compliance With Retention Incentive
Regulations and Policies
What We Found
The EPA did not comply with Office of Personnel
Management regulations or agency policies on
retention incentive pay. From 2006 through 2013,
retention incentives were paid to 13 EPA
employees totaling $667,376. Eleven employees
received retention incentive pay totaling $481,819.
For 10 of the employees, no documentation of the required annual
recertification was available. One employee received retention incentive pay for
4 years beyond the date of a promotion.
EPA employees received unauthorized retention pay due to:
•	Agency and management confusion over the requirement for annual
recertification of retention incentive pay.
•	The agency's human resource system lacking internal controls to track,
notify and automatically discontinue retention incentive pay if not properly
authorized.
•	Lack of follow-up by the EPA's Office of Human Resources regarding
coding errors for terminated retention incentives.
•	Lack of follow-up by EPA managers and employees regarding the status of
outstanding actions being processed by the EPA's Office of Human
Resources.
EPA did not comply with
Office of Personnel
Management regulations
or agency policies on
retention incentive pay.
Recommendations and Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Administration and
Resources Management and the Chief Financial Officer:
•	Determine if any additional evidence exists to justify a retention incentive.
If unjustified, pursue action to recover retention incentive payments made
to EPA employees.
•	Pursue action to recover the unauthorized retention incentive amounts paid
to the EPA employees who received retention incentive pay beyond their
promotion date or authorized end date.
The agency agreed with the recommendations. The agency is working to find
additional evidence to determine if retention incentive payments were justified,
and has initiated the collection processes for the two overpayment cases.

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