Request for Retroactive Promotions With Backpay

The Administrator of the Panama Canal Commission requested that GAO reconsider its decision which held that six Panama Canal pilots were not entitled to a retroactive promotion with backpay. The promotions had been delayed by the absence of the clerical employee responsible for preparing and forwarding the necessary papers to the official authorized to approve promotions. The request for reconsideration was based on the ground that the positions at the Commission are outside the competitive civil service and are not subject to the appointment, classification, and pay provisions of title 5 of the U.S. Code. The GAO decision denying retroactive promotion was based on the general rule that promotions may not be effected retroactively and, more specifically, on the fact that the delay in initiating the particular promotions in question did not fall within the limited exception to that general rule for clerical or administrative delay. Upon reconsideration, GAO concluded that there was no basis to overule the previous decision. The general rule prohibiting retroactive personnel actions is not restricted to only those employees who are subject to the appointment, classification, and pay provisions of title 5 of the U.S. Code. Furthermore, GAO found nothing in either the language or the legislative history of the Panama Canal Act of 1979 which would authorize the retroactive personnel actions. Accordingly, the previous decision was sustained.