Rauner administration awards 1,100 non-union workers bonuses

More than 1,000 non-union Illinois state workers whose bosses say are performing exceptional work are getting one-time merit bonuses from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration.

About 1,100 workers will each receive a $3,016 bonus under the plan that will award between $3 million and $4 million in bonuses.

Michael Hoffman, acting director of the Department of Central Management Services, said in a memo to agency directors and others that the bonuses are a reward in part for “the hard work and dedication that non-bargaining unit employees demonstrate on a daily basis.”

Hoffman said the last across-the-board salary increase for non-bargaining unit employees was in 2005, and the last merit pay program for them was in 2009.

Rauner’s office said employees had to receive an “exceptional” rating on individual evaluations to qualify. The bonuses already have been issued to many of the workers who qualified.

Hoffman’s memo says the bonuses are available to non-bargaining unit employees whose base salary as of July 1 was less than $100,000. Those earning more weren’t eligible, as were a number of other merit-comp employees.

Members of Rauner’s executive office were not eligible, nor were employees subject to confirmation by the Illinois Senate or workers who left state employment before Sept. 16. Employees who had worked less than three months during the fiscal year that ended June 30 also were ineligible.

Rauner’s office said the exceptions left a pool of about 2,000 employees eligible for the bonuses, and about 1,100 employees got “exceptional” ratings.

The bonus payments are being made even though Illinois is delaying payments to many organizations and vendors because of the traditional fall slowdown in tax collections.