s003802

Office of the General Counsel

Matter of: [xxx]
Date: January 24, 2000
File Number: S003802

OPM Contact: Jo-Ann Chabot

The claimant, a federal employee, requests that we review her employing agency's refusal to waive her indebtedness to the United States. The debt is for $1868.71 and results from nonpayment of health insurance premiums from May 1992 to January 1994.

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. No. 104-316, 110 Stat. 3826, approved October 19, 1996, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Determination Order dated December 17, 1996. Neither Pub. L. No 104-316 nor OMB's Determination Order of December 17, 1996, authorizes the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to make or to review waiver determinations involving erroneous payments of pay or allowances. Accordingly, the Claims Adjudication Unit does not have jurisdiction to consider, or issue a decision on, the appeal of the employing agency's refusal to waive the claimant's indebtedness to the United States. Therefore, the claimant's request is denied.

This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within the Office of Personnel Management. Nothing in this settlement limits the claimant's right to bring an action in an appropriate United States Court.