[Entitlement to Home Leave and Renewal Agreement Travel]

GAO was requested for an advance decision regarding the home leave and travel entitlements of an employee of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The employee had been transferred from New Jersey to Puerto Rico by his former employer, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), after executing a service agreement by which he would be eligible for return travel and transportation expenses to his place of actual residence after remaining in the service of IRS for 24 months. After working for IRS in Puerto Rico for 5 months, the employee accepted a job with HUD, which informed him that it would honor his previous service agreement with IRS. The employee asked HUD to grant him home leave and tour renewal agreement travel after serving an aggregate of 24 months in Puerto Rico; the request was denied based on the determination that, at the time of his appointment with HUD, the employee's actual place of residence was Puerto Rico. The employee claimed that: (1) he satisfied the conditions of entitlement to tour renewal travel since he served in Puerto Rico for the agreed-upon 24 months; and (2) HUD was obligated to give him a return travel agreement upon hiring him and to renew this agreement, based on his view that his actual place of residence was New Jersey. GAO found that: (1) the employee did not fulfill his obligation under the service agreement with IRS; (2) HUD was free to make a residency determination independent of the IRS determination; and (3) based on the HUD determination of his actual place of residence, the employee did not satisfy the statutory requirements to earn and be granted home leave. Accordingly, the agency's denial of the leave entitlements was upheld.