[Request for Waiver of Overpayments to Members of Senior Executive Service]

The Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), requested a waiver of overpayments which will be made to 13 HHS physicians as a result of the payment of salary, allowances, and awards in excess of the statutory aggregate limit. The physicians, who are members of the Senior Executive Service, were awarded bonuses which, when added to their base pay and physician comparability allowance, will cause them to be paid in excess of the applicable Executive Schedule level pay rate. Such payments are precluded if they exceed the correct rate of pay at the end of the fiscal year. GAO found that the members of the Service are not entitled to waiver of the excess payments, since only erroneous payments may be waived and the payments in this case were proper. Accordingly, the request for waiver was denied.