Request for Reconsideration

A Department of Agriculture employee requested reconsideration of a GAO decision which denied him reimbursement for real estate sales expenses in connection with his transfer of duty stations. The employee was transferred to a position with an international organization and then sought reemployment with Agriculture following his completion of service with the international organization. He could not return to his old duty station but was offered a position by the agency at a new station. In its decision, GAO denied payment of the sales expenses on the employee's residence as it was not his residence at the time he was first definitely informed of his transfer to the new official station. However, after reconsideration, GAO held that, if an employee separates from an international organization to which he had transferred from a federal agency within 5 years and applies within 90 days after the separation, he is entitled to be reemployed in his former position or a position of like seniority, status, and pay in the agency from which he transferred. In the event that an agency is unable to reemploy the person at the same duty station, he is entitled, upon reemployment at a different location, to be reimbursed the travel and relocation expenses authorized. The occupancy requirement in the federal travel regulations did not preclude the payment of residence sales expenses because, prior to the effective date of his reemployment, the agency had informed the employee of the necessity for a transfer upon reemployment. For the purposes of the employee's official transfer, his home in his old agency duty station area was his actual residence at the time he was informed of his transfer. The employee could be reimbursed the expenses of selling his residence, and the decision was modified accordingly.