Data Universe

[workdrone]

Here's an interesting (and very disturbing) website I came across a while back:

php.app.com/feds06/search.php

Courtesy of Asbury Park Press, a NJ media firm. It looks like federal employee's salary are actually public record. So for those of you Feds who are interested in what your fellow public servants are making, have fun with the search engine.

Regards,

Drone

[learnedhand]

We got this at work. Be aware, however, that there are errors.

[judicature]

Thanks. I was wondering how much money my brother made!

[workdrone]

It's probably not 100% accurate. However, it's too close for comfort for a lot of folks at work. The expression of horror on some of their faces when they saw this website was very telling. Sometimes... TMI really rings true.

Regards,

Drone

[cinderella]

We got it at work, too. It's pretty darn close, although it (or at least the one we saw) was 2006 salaries. I think all Fed Salaries are public- yes?

[judicature]

Yeah, it is public information. The Washington Post used to publish this information from time for the D.C. federal employees . . . a local newspaper did the same on-line search tool for our state employees. . . and they got my salary right

There ain't no hiding salary if you work on the taxpayers' dime.

[workdrone]

cinderella said:

I think all Fed Salaries are public- yes?

Seems to be. This is taken from the FAQ on the APP website:

Q: I’m a government employee and I do not want my name, salary or other job-related information posted on the Internet. Can you remove it?

A: Open record laws and court decisions for at least the last 40 years have maintained that a government employee’s name, salary and job-related information is open to anyone who requests it. Courts and government rules have long held that federal employees are public servants, and that the public has a "significant interest" in knowing how its employees are paid.

All information on the site has been legally obtained through FOIA or other public records laws. The same information has been sold or given to private companies by the government for many years, and has been used by businesses in a variety of ways, including targeted mailing lists. As a news company, our only interest is to facilitate the flow of government information to the public. To protect those in national security jobs, the federal government does not provide the names of employees on the federal exclusion list. All other names and salaries have been legally released by the government.

In regard to federal employees, long-standing Office of Personnel Management regulations have balanced the rights of the public and employee privacy in 5 CFR 293.331. The regulation states that personnel lists are generally public (except for those on the exclusion list), and that "basic employee lists containing office addresses or duty stations have found no protectible privacy interests in such records."

The rule further states that the following information is public for past and present federal employees: names; present and past position titles; present and past grades; present and past annual salary rates including awards and allowances; present and past duty stations; and position descriptions and job standards.

So taking it at face value, it looks like federal salary is public record for most employees.

Regards,

Drone

[bartleby]

Interestingly enough, George Bush's salary, along with the salary of my congressman/senator, and the IRS personnel are not listed. Why should they have privacy and not I??

[cinderella]

If I recall correctly, all Senators and Congressfolks make about 162K (those in leadership a bit more-say 20K more), and the President makes 400K w/ 50K expense account.