Declinations of Reasonable Offer Appeals
Overview
OPM is responsible for adjudicating declination of reasonable offer appeals through the passage of Pub. L. No. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111 (1978). These appeals are governed by 5 U.S.C. § 5366 and 5 C.F.R. pt. 536 and provide Federal civilian employees with a means to contest the termination of retained grade or pay. The right to appeal arises when an employee believes they were not given a reasonable offer to a position for which the grade or pay was equal to or greater than the retained grade or pay.
You must file your appeal with OPM no later than 20 calendar days after you are notified that your grade or pay retention benefits have been terminated. 5 C.F.R. § 536.402(b). If you are in an exclusively recognized bargaining unit and your collective bargaining agreement provides for review of the termination of these benefits, you must use the negotiated grievance procedure and may not appeal to OPM. 5 C.F.R. § 536.402(e). OPM's decision is final and there is no right of further appeal; the decision is subject to discretionary review only as provided in 5 C.F.R. § 536.402(f).
Filing Instructions
File your appeal using OPM's eFile system:
You are encouraged to use electronic filing. Group mailbox and physical mail are also available.
Access OPM eFile
OPM eFile System
- All parties and their representatives must register using a unique email address at https://opmefile.opm.gov.
- Registration as an eFile account owner constitutes consent to accept electronic service of all documents, records, notices, and decisions filed by the agency, claimant, or issued by OPM.
- Access to documents is limited to the parties and their representatives who are registered eFile account owners in the cases in which they were filed.
- Documents filed in OPM's electronic filing system are deemed received on the date of the electronic submission.
- All parties and their representatives must follow the instructions on OPM's website for submitting all claims/appeals, evidence, and other documents.
Group Mailbox
If you cannot use the eFile system, you can use the group mailbox. Submit your appeal directly to Adjudications@opm.gov.
Physical Mail
If you cannot use electronic filing or the group mailbox, you may mail your appeal to:
Office of Adjudications
Merit System Accountability and Compliance
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20415
Representatives
You may have a representative to help you prepare and submit your appeal case, but the representative cannot be someone with management or classification authority over your position. In addition, the representative must be designated in writing. It must be supported by a duly executed power of attorney or other documentary evidence of the representative's right to act for the claimant.
Decisions
View All Decisions
Some information within these documents has been withheld from disclosure under the Privacy Act exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, primarily the name, address and other personal information related to the claimant. A [xxx] symbol indicates where information has been withheld under this exemption.
All decisions since October 1, 1997, include the file number and date. Many decisions issued before that date may be undated.
OPM Decision Numbers
An OPM decision number identifies declination of reasonable offer appeal decisions and is different from the case number assigned to the claimant.
The 12-character decision number contains:
- "D" for declination of reasonable offer appeal;
- Four digits for the OPM-certified occupational series of the position;
- Two digits for the OPM-certified grade of the position; and
- Two digits for the sequence number of the decision for that series and grade.
For example, the decision number D-0802-11-02 is a declination of reasonable offer appeal decision for a position in the 0802 Engineering Technician occupational series at the grade 11 level and is the second decision certifying that a position is a GS-802-11.
If the grade is 00 or the series is 0000, that indicates the decision concerns only the series or the pay system; that is, whether the position should be in the Federal Wage System or the General Schedule.