Alan D. Zempel-Salary Overpayments-Waiver

B-260843 Oct 24, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights GS-13 employee was temporarily promoted to GM-14 for the period April 1989 through April 1991. When he was returned to his previous GS-13 position. He was again temporarily promoted to the GM-14 position. When he was returned to GS-13. He was permanently promoted to GM-14. His pay was again erroneously set at a higher rate which caused him to receive overpayments through November 1993 when the agency corrected the error. Waiver was granted for overpayments he received during the period through February 1993. Denied for the subsequent period on the basis that the advice he received in March should have put him on notice that his pay was incorrect. Waiver is granted for the additional period since record supports employee's contention that the March advice related only to prior problems with his pay. View Decision Matter of: Alan D. Zempel-Salary Overpayments-Waiver File: B-260843 Date: October 24, 1996 GS-13 employee was temporarily promoted to GM-14 for the period April 1989 through April 1991, when he was returned to his previous GS-13 position. In February 1992, he was again temporarily promoted to the GM-14 position, until February 1993, when he was returned to GS-13. In March 1993 the agency advised him that due to several errors in setting his pay during these periods, he had been overpaid for which he would be in debt. At about the same time, he was permanently promoted to GM-14, and his pay was again erroneously set at a higher rate which caused him to receive overpayments through November 1993 when the agency corrected the error. Waiver was granted for overpayments he received during the period through February 1993, but denied for the subsequent period on the basis that the advice he received in March should have put him on notice that his pay was incorrect. On appeal, waiver is granted for the additional period since record supports employee's contention that the March advice related only to prior problems with his pay, and he was not aware that upon his subsequent promotion it again was set erroneously. DECISION This is in response to Mr. Alan D. Zempel's appeal of our Claims Group's partial denial of his request for waiver of a debt which arose from overpayments of pay he received in various positions over several years as an employee of the Internal Revenue Service. [1] Upon review of the matter, as explained below, we overrule the portion of the Claims Group's settlement denying waiver and waive the additional amount. BACKGROUND Mr. Zempel's debt resulted from several personnel and pay setting actions that took place between April 1991 and November 1993, which were determined by the agency to have resulted from administrative errors. Specifically, the agency reports that Mr. Zempel was temporarily promoted from a GS-13 Statistician position to a GM-14 Supervisory Statistician position effective April 23, 1989, at the salary rate of $55,072, for a period that was not to exceed April, 22, 1990. In April 1990, that appointment was extended for an additional year at a salary rate of $57,894. In April 1991 he was returned to the GS-13 position at a salary of $54,694, which the agency subsequently determined should have been set at the rate of $57,650. This error was corrected and he was paid the correct amount. In February 1992, an agency staffing specialist incorrectly determined that Mr. Zempel was entitled to pay retention upon his return to the GS-13 position in April 1991, based on his previous temporary promotion. Consequently, the agency erroneously "corrected" his pay rate to increase his then current pay rate to $61,143 and to pay him retroactively to April 1991 for the extra amount erroneously determined due him. This pay setting error was compounded when Mr. Zempel was given another 1-year temporary promotion to the GM-14 position, effective February 9, 1992. Because of the error in setting his GS-13 pay at a higher rate, his GM-14 pay was set erroneously at $65,433, when it should have been set at $63,707. On February 8,1993, Mr. Zempel's temporary appointment expired and he was to be returned to his GS-13 position. However, later that month he was selected for permanent promotion to the GM-14 position and his return to the GS-13 position was cancelled. The agency states that in processing the permanent promotion, a personnel specialist discovered the series of mistakes in Mr. Zempel's pay that had occurred over the April 1991 to February 1993 period, and Mr. Zempel was notified of that problem verbally in a meeting on March 3, 1993. It was not until over 4 months later that he was officially notified, by memorandum dated July 23, 1993, that after careful review of his personnel file, it was discovered that "you were not entitled to pay retention.