Judicial Watch Obtains Documents Revealing Generous Salaries and Bonuses for Government Finance Agencies Staff Members

Records Show Workers Starting at Twice the Maximum Pay Specified by the Office of Personnel Management

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents revealing the generous salaries and bonuses being paid to government workers in such agencies as the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).  The documents were obtained by Judicial Watch in response to Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests filed on July 12, 2011 with the two agencies, as well as with the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), U.S. Treasury, and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

The FOIAs requested Standard Forms 50 (SF-50s) from each of the agencies.  An SF-50 is a human resources form that documents any change in a government worker's employment situation, including pay.  The following responses were received:

• The CFPB responded on August 4, 2011, the SF-50s revealing CFPB workers being hired at salaries twice the maximum ordinarily allowed under guidelines published each year by the Office of Personnel Management.  A dozen new hires take home more than $225,000 a year, and a student intern is currently being paid $42,036 "through completion of education & study" as a communications trainee.
• The CFTC responded on September 12, 2011, but blocked out most of the information on the 26 forms provided.  The documents, however, reveal that the agency has instituted a cash award bonus system, and during the first six months of 2011, the agency doled out from $400 to $5,000 in bonus income to employees already earning $225,000 or more per year. 
• The Federal Reserve, responding on August 25, 2011, denied using SF-50s, despite an apparent statutory requirement to do so.  It also refused a subsequent request for "Transcripts of Service," which the agency said it used instead of SF-50s.
• The OCC responded on August 22, 2011, the SF-50s indicating that 85 workers earn $225,000 or more per year.  The employee names, as well as the legal authority under which the pay raises were issued, were blotted out. 
• The U.S. Department of the Treasury, responding on August 25, 2011, indicated that two employees earn more than $225,000, but withheld their names. 
• The SEC responded on October 3, 2011, reporting that 103 workers earn $225,000 or more per year.

Judicial Watch filed administrative appeals regarding the withholding of information by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

"These new salary records are bound to cause controversy.  No wonder Washington D.C. is the wealthiest area of the country," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.  "And the secrecy surrounding basic salary information of public employees shows an arrogance of power and contempt for transparency in an administration that promised the very opposite."

To review the Judicial Watch report, visit www.judicialwatch.org.

Founded in 1994, Judicial Watch Inc. is a constitutionally conservative, nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. JW is perhaps the most active FOIA requestor and litigator operating today.

SOURCE Judicial Watch