[Claim for Retroactive Appointment to Higher Grade Position]

A decision was requested as to whether an employee who was appointed as a law clerk for a U.S. District Court was entitled to have her appointment retroactively changed to a higher grade with appropriate backpay. After the employee's appointment, it was discovered that she had been eligible for appointment at a higher grade level. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts agreed to promote the employee to the higher grade but disallowed a request for a retroactive appointment change. The employee contended that she was entitled to a retroactive salary adjustment under the authority of the Back Pay Act because the Office failed to inform Federal judges of the criteria for the appointment and promotion of law clerks. Furthermore, she stated that the Office was aware of her qualifications and should have alerted the appointing judge to her eligibility for the higher grade. GAO has held that a prerequisite for the award of backpay is a determination by an appropriate authority that an employee has undergone an unjustified personnel action. In this case, no administrative error occurred after the employee's appointment to the lower grade position. The employee did not contend that the failure to appoint her to a higher grade deprived her of a right granted by statute or regulation, and there was nothing in the record to show that her appointment to the higher grade was nondiscretionary. Absent an administrative regulation requiring that the employee be appointed to the higher grade, her assignment to a lower grade did not constitute an administrative error which may be corrected retroactively. Accordingly, the employee may not be retroactively appointed to the higher grade.