Four District government employees caught up in the latest dispute between the Fenty administration and the D.C. Council will be denied their promised early-retirement bonuses unless the council approves emergency legislation authorizing the release of the funds. The four retirees applied for their early-out, easy-out awards, as much as $25,000 a person depending on their salaries, after the Department of Human Resources shut down the payments in mid-October. All agency chiefs were told that the fiscal 2010 budget adopted by the D.C. Council voided all bonus and special pay, including the retirement awards.

But Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh vehemently disagreed with the human resource department’s decision. The prohibition, they said, did not include early-out, easy-out payments.