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Claim for Backpay for Extended Detail

B-195223 Mar 04, 1980
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Highlights

An employee of the Department of Labor (Labor) requested reconsideration of a decision which disallowed his claim for a retroactive temporary promotion for the period from February 29, 1976, through March 3, 1978. The GS-12 employee was detailed to a GS-13 position on July 30, 1973. He contended that he continued to perform the duties of that position until March 3, 1978. He requested a retroactive temporary promotion for that period. Labor granted him a retroactive temporary promotion for the period from the 121st day of his detail to February 29, 1976, the date the higher-level position was officially canceled. The employee then sought a retroactive temporary promotion for the period from February 29, 1976, to March 3, 1978. He argued that he had no notice or knowledge of the fact that the position to which he had been detailed had been abolished, and that he continued to perform the duties of the higher-level position until March 3, 1978. In the alternative, the employee argued that cancellation of the higher-level position constituted a reduction-in-grade and, thus, entitled him to the protections of an adverse action proceeding. GAO held that the fact that the position was classified at a higher grade when the detail began, and was only subsequently canceled, was not determinative. The employee was not entitled to the temporary promotion for the period in contention because there could be no promotion to a position which was not classified. The matter of whether the cancellation of the position and resulting termination of the retroactive temporary promotion constituted an adverse action was held to be a matter for determination by the Merit Systems Protection Board. Accordingly, the earlier decision was sustained.

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