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[Claim for Environmental Differential Pay]

B-214205 Jul 17, 1984
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Highlights

A union lawyer submitted the claim of an elevator mechanic at Carlsbad Caverns National Park for increased differential pay. The Government employee presently receives a 25-percent differential pay increase for work performed at a height. The employee had claimed that he was entitled to a 50-percent environmental differential which is payable for work at extreme heights, with unsure footing, on an unstable structure, and subject to adverse weather conditions. An administrative law judge found that the employee was working at extreme heights with unsure footing and that, therefore, the employee was entitled to a 50-percent differential pay rate. The Department of the Interior rejected this finding because it found that the footing on which he worked was not unstable, the structure was not unstable, he had adequate protective facilities, and adverse weather conditions were not present. In an appeal of this decision, the lawyer stated that: (1) the administrative law judge's opinion had greater authority than the agency's since he made a closer inspection of the unsure footing; and (2) the agency was in error when it stated that the employee must prove that all conditions in the regulation governing 50-percent differential pay must be present in order to entitle an employee to the differential. GAO will not substitute its judgment for that of an agency concerning the authorization of an environmental differential absent clear and convincing evidence that the agency determination was arbitrary or capricious. GAO found that the agency correctly dealt with each item required for the 50-percent entitlement. The agency was correct that an employee has to meet all of the criteria mentioned in the applicable regulation to receive an entitlement to a 50-percent environmental differential. In addition, GAO found that the agency's assessment of the working conditions involved was not unreasonable. Therefore, GAO could not authorize the raise in environmental differential which the employee requested. Accordingly, the claim was denied.

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