Claim for Retroactive Promotion and Backpay

An employee appealed an action which denied his claim for a retroactive promotion and backpay. The Claims Group denied the claim on the basis of an agency reclassification action. The employee was promoted to a newly classified higher grade position because there was no evaluation statement for the employee's current position. The official promotion became effective nearly 5 months after the position was reclassified. Subsequently, the employee filed a claim for a retroactive promotion with backpay in accordance with a prior GAO decision. The agency denied his request on the basis that the position was not established until the effective time of the employee's promotion. GAO found that the agency had misinterpreted the decision and that it was controlling in this case. In that decision, a request for personnel action was submitted by the employee's supervisor twice, and no action was taken on either request. Therefore, GAO held that, when an agency reclassifies a position, it must either promote the incumbent of the position or remove him no later than the beginning of the fourth pay period after the classification action. The record indicated that classification authority was delegated to the agency's regional office level. Nothing in the record suggested that the actions taken at the regional office level with respect to the reclassification of the employee's position were incomplete or defective. Accordingly, the action of the Claims Group was reversed, and the employee may be retroactively promoted in accordance with the prior decision.