Skip to page navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to main content

You have reached a collection of archived material.

The content available is no longer being updated and as a result you may encounter hyperlinks which no longer function. You should also bear in mind that this content may contain text and references which are no longer applicable as a result of changes in law, regulation and/or administration.

s9701204

Office of the General Counsel

Matter of: [XXX]
File Number: S9701204

OPM Contact: Murray M. Meeker

By letter postmarked October 17, 1997, the claimant, an employee with the [agency], notified the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) Claims Adjudication Unit that when he was transferred to [agency] from the [previous agency] in January 1994, an error had been made in setting his pay. The employee requested that an audit be conducted of the [agency] personnel office in order to verify that proper procedures were being followed and that adequate supervisory controls were in place. The employee also requested that he be upgraded from grade GS-11 to grade GS-12.

While the employee did not expressly request a waiver, he stated that he could not afford to absorb the long-term consequences of the error. As a result of legislative and executive action, the authority to waive overpayments of pay and allowances now resides with the heads of agencies, regardless of the amount. See the General Accounting Office Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-316, 110 Stat. 3826, approved October 19, 1996, and the Office of Management and Budget's Determination Order dated December 17, 1996. Neither Pub. L. 104-316 nor the OMB's Determination Order of December 17, 1996, authorizes OPM to make waiver determinations.

While OPM's Claims Adjudication Unit lacked jurisdiction to review the employee's requests, his correspondence was forwarded to OPM's Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness which is authorized to conduct reviews of agency personnel offices. The employee was also provided with information concerning the procedures applicable to position classification appeals.

Control Panel