[Reconsideration of Claim for Recredit of Sick Leave]

A Federal employee appealed a Claims Group settlement which denied his claim for recredit of sick leave. The employee had been with the Postal Service, and he left that agency and entered active duty with the Air Force. Upon retiring from the Air Force he was employed by another agency. Under applicable regulations he was entitled to the restoration of leave to his credit at the time he entered on active duty. However, the Postal Service did not prepare the appropriate form at the time of his separation to indicate the amount of leave that was to his credit. Because the employee was unable to produce any documentary evidence of the amount of leave he had to his credit, his claim was denied by the Claims Group for insufficient proof. GAO has held that the determination as to whether leave should be credited incident to a transfer to an agency under a different leave system is the responsibility of the agency involved. The only evidence which the employee submitted was the amount of leave to his credit at the time he began working for the Postal Service. Pay records did not indicate whether the leave was used, and time and attendance records had been destroyed. In the absence of any official records or other corroborating evidence, the employee's statement that he did not use the transferred leave was insufficient to form a basis on which to certify his prior leave balance. Accordingly, the action of the Claims Group was sustained.