Washington, DC
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Compensation Claim Decision
Under section 3702 of title 31, United States Code
Fort Meade, Maryland
Damon B. Ford
Compensation and Leave Claims
Program Manager
Agency Compliance and Evaluation
Merit System Accountability and Compliance
03/23/2022
Date
The claimant is a Federal civilian employee of the U.S. Army Medical Command, in Fort Meade, Maryland. He requests a Living quarters allowance (LQA), Temporary Quarters Subsistence Allowance (TQSA), Post Differential, and a Separate Maintenance Allowance (SMA) in connection with a GS-0301-13, Knowledge Manager position he applied for in Manama, Bahrain. We received the claim on January 11, 2021, and the agency administrative report on September 13, 2021. For the reasons discussed herein, the claim is denied.
On August 27, 2018, the claimant applied for the aforementioned Knowledge Manager position with the Department of the Navy’s U.S. Fleet Forces Command, duty station Manama, Bahrain. On November 3, 2019, he received and accepted a tentative job offer for the position. On February 5, 2020, the Bahrain Human Resources Office (HRO) determined the claimant was ineligible for LQA. On May 29, 2020, Region HRO, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia also determined he was ineligible for LQA. In a memorandum dated November 9, 2020, the agency reiterated Bahrain HRO’s and Region HRO’s LQA ineligibility determinations. On November 24, 2020, the claimant received a firm job offer for the position, and on June 28, 2021, he accepted it without an LQA grant. Although the record indicates that the claimant accepted the position, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was informed by the claimant’s employing agency, via email dated October 21, 2021, that as of that date the claimant had not been appointed to the position.
OPM’s authority to settle compensation claims involving Federal civilian employees under section 3702(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code (U.S.C.) is narrow and limited to consideration of whether monies are owed for the stated claim. Under section 178.105, of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) the burden is upon the claimant to establish the liability of the United States and the claimant’s right to payment. Joseph P. Carrigan, 60 Comp. Gen. 243, 247 (1981); Wesley L. Goecker, 58 Comp. Gen. 738 (1979). In this case, the claimant does not have a right to payment for allowances attached to a position that he has not occupied. A Federal employee is entitled only to the salary of the position to which the employee is appointed. United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, at 406 (1976). Thus, his requests for TQSA and LQA are premature since he has never occupied the position in question. Accordingly, these claims are denied.
With respect to the post differential and SMA claims, as a procedural matter, the claimant has failed to provide OPM with final agency decisions on these claims, as is required under 5 CFR 178.102(a). Because he has not received final agency decisions on the post differential and SMA claims, they are not properly before OPM and are therefore not subject to review. Accordingly, these claims are also denied.
This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within OPM. Nothing in this settlement limits the claimant’s right to bring an action in an appropriate United States court.