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AT&T is paying bonuses of $1,000 to more than 200,000 U.S. employees. AT&T's CEO said it was in response to tax reform. The House of Representatives on Wednesday sent tax reform legislation to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it soon. AT&T to invest $1 billion following tax reform passage AT&T to invest $1 billion in capital spending following tax reform passage 20 Mins Ago | 03:21 AT&T was quick to respond to news of U.S. tax reform, announcing it would give some employees bonuses once the law is official. The telecom giant said in a press release...

Nine managers who were fired by Whole Foods supermarkets for allegedly manipulating a bonus program have filed a class-action lawsuit against the grocery chain. The lawsuit filed this week in D.C. Superior Court says the managers were fired for blowing the whistle on a company-wide practice of not paying bonuses earned by employees. The former managers say Whole Foods engaged in "systemic wage theft" at its stores nationwide and that the managers were punished for it after a "sham internal investigation."

The massive revolt against the pay of BP’s chief executive, Bob Dudley, where almost 60 percent of the shareholders rejected the £14m (US$20 million) pay package is a stern warning to oil companies that investors aren’t pleased with the gaping disconnect between performance and pay structure. Similarly, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden’s 2015 pay package, including pension and tax equalization of 5.576 million euros (US$6.1 million), is likely to face resistance from shareholders as two shareholder-advisory firms have urged them to oppose the CEO’s pay.

Remember when then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced in May 2014 that bonuses would be canceled in light of the systemic fraud involving wait lists at numerous VA facilities? What Shinseki failed to mention was that the cancellation only impacted a small number of VA officials. USA Today reports that the Veterans Administration paid out more than $142 million in bonuses for 2014, despite the fact that veterans are waiting longer than ever for care: The Department of Veterans Affairs doled out more than $142 million in bonuses to executives and employees for performance in 2014 even as scandals over...

This is a story that took place early in the year, so with all the water that’s passed under the bridge since then it might call for a quick refresher course. Do you remember these DEA agents who were working to foil the cartels in Colombia? Drug Enforcement Administration agents allegedly had “sex parties” with prostitutes hired by local drug cartels overseas over a period of several years, according to a report released Thursday by the Justice Department’s watchdog.The report did not specify the country where the parties occurred, but a law enforcement official familiar with the matter identified...

Now that Oregon’s Obamacare exchange has entirely given up on fixing or running its own Obamacare website, the state exchange is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding as bonuses to employees that stick around until the federal government takes over. “Many of the employees who voluntarily left Cover Oregon had key skills that are not easily replaced both in IT and in health care laws and regulations,” interim director Clyde Hamstreet wrote to the exchange’s board, Oregon Live reports. “We cannot afford to keep losing valuable employees if we are to complete the workload for the...

The director of the Phoenix VA hospital received an $8,500 pay bonus last month even as allegations of 40 deaths resulting from excessive wait times for care were being investigated, according to the Weekly Standard. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is reportedly responsible for signing off on performance ratings and rewards, but the department’s chairman Jeff Miller said the bonus was the result of “an administrative error.” The Weekly Standard reports: Sharon Helman, the director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System, ”got an $8,500 bonus last month while there was an open [inspector general] investigation into Phoenix,” Chairman Miller...

The partisan bureaucrats at the IRS who were ready and willing to harass conservative groups are just the tip of the iceberg at a corrupt and irresponsible agency that just happens to be the most unpopular and feared arm of the federal government. So self-serving is the agency that it actually paid bonuses – many bonuses – to employees who were delinquent in their own taxes. Gail Sullivan of the Washington Post reports: A report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shows that between Oct. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012, the IRS paid $2.8 million in bonuses to employees...

More than 2,800 Internal Revenue Service employees who recently had been disciplined received performance bonuses totaling more than $2.8 million between Oct. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2012, a government audit found. The misconduct ranged from failure to pay taxes to misuse of government travel cards, violation of official-conduct standards and fraud, according to the report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The discipline included written reprimands, suspensions and even removal. The oversight agency said some of the conduct issues might have occurred after an employee earned a bonus. While the IRS doesn't prohibit bonuses, "providing awards to...

It was less than a month ago when Barclays announced it would fire 12,000 workers after posting abysmal earnings with Q4 banking income crashing 37% and overall income sliding 9%. So, one would think, its employees would be punished with lower pay - those that are lucky enough to keep their jobs of course. One would be wrong. Reuters just reported that 481 of Barclays employees were paid 1 million pounds ($1.7 million) or more last year, 53 more than in the year before, and most of them were based in the United States.The headscratcher continues: Barclays said 57...

Because they're doing such a great job, right? The Hill: The IRS has given the green light to tens of millions of dollars in employee bonuses, a decision that congressional Republicans immediately rebuked.IRS employees will receive around $43 million in bonuses this spring under an agreement reached with the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents some agency employees.Union officials said that total was well short of the $75 million that the employees were owed under their labor agreement. But in the wake of last year's targeting controversy, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) quickly and sharply criticized the decision to give...

On Oct. 1, 2012 the Obama administration started awarding bonus points to hospitals that spend the least on elderly patients. It will result in fewer knee replacements, hip replacements, angioplasty, bypass surgery and cataract operations. These are the five procedures that have transformed aging for older Americans. They used to languish in wheelchairs and nursing homes due to arthritis, cataracts and heart disease. Now they lead active lives. But the Obama administration is undoing that progress. By cutting $716 billion from future Medicare funding over the next decade and rewarding the hospitals that spend the least on seniors, the Obama...

Over the past 12 years, John C. Beale was often away from his job as a high-level staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency. He cultivated an air of mystery and explained his lengthy absences by telling his bosses that he was doing top-secret work, including for the CIA. For years, apparently, no one checked.

June 21, 2013 IRS Sent $46,378,040 in Refunds to 23,994 ‘Unauthorized’ Aliens at 1 Atlanta Address Terence P. Jeffrey (CNSNews.com) - The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).That was not the only Atlanta address theoretically occupied by thousands of “unauthorized” alien workers receiving millions in federal tax refunds in 2011. In fact, according to a TIGTA audit report published last year, four of the top ten addresses to which the...

The funniest thing about the Democrats’ ridiculous “sequester theater,” in which they pretended that increasing government spending by 6 percent instead of 8 percent would leave America in ruins, is that they didn’t waste any effort on maintaining the pretense. Even while they were trying to scare us with the alleged horrors of austerity, the government was throwing big money into various frivolities. Once the sequester drama was over, the champagne corks popped, and the caviar resumed flowing, with breathtaking speed. So, even as the President gears up for a $100 million junket to Africa (hastily cancelling a big Tanzanian...

The IRS scandal is becoming more insane by the minute.  After the testimony on Friday from the Inspector General and the now “retiring” acting IRS Commissioner, Steven Miller, things couldn’t be more convoluted.  First of all, Obama came out and said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had “demanded the resignation” of Miller, when in fact, Miller was due to leave his post by June of this year.  So there was no “resigning” going on, and he will leave with all of his benefits intact.  Wow!  No accountability, no answers, no penalties. Next we find out that during the four year...

The Wall Street Journal of Feb. 27 tells the story in its own headlines. On page C1, the story was, "JPMorgan Pulls Belt Tight," while on C3 the headline read, "Wall Street's Bonus Pool Hits $20 Billion." If that doesn't describe this crazy false recovery we are allegedly undergoing, nothing does. Of course, the picky can point out that JPMorgan Chase is tightening its belt on its banking side and the Wall Street bonus increases are paid to traders, investment bankers and other employees of securities firms. But to the average Joe, it's hard to understand, if the JPMorgan Chase...

The container carriers and port operators, represented by the U.S. Marine Alliance, want to cap the royalties at 2011 levels, saying they've morphed into a huge expense, totally unrelated to their original purpose, which hurts the industry's competitiveness as it tries to keep up with new technology. The alliance says the royalty payments now amount to a bonus averaging $15,500 annually for East Coast workers who already earn more than $50 per hour.

Hoosier workers to get $111 come tax time 18 hours ago • Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078 INDIANAPOLIS | Hoosier income tax payers each will receive $111 next year as Indiana returns a portion of its $2.15 billion budget reserve to its citizens. Gov. Mitch Daniels on Wednesday announced the value of the taxpayer refund created by lawmakers in 2011 to ensure the state's reserve funds never get too big. Under the law, a refund is automatically triggered when the reserve tops 10 percent of the next year's budgeted spending. "Better that these dollars remain in the pockets of the...

Five years after the beginning of the financial crisis,” Wall Street “remains in transition,” state comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported Tuesday. The industry is “still working through the fallout from the financial crisis.” No kidding. Yet both the state and city governments, which depend on Wall Street to pay the bills, are still partying like it’s 2007. Unless they sober up soon, they’re in transition to nowhere. At first glance, DiNapoli’s report on Wall Street’s impact on New York seems inconsistent. Wall Street should ink healthy profits this year — $15 billion, or twice last year’s levels. That’s back to where...