[Civil Rights Commission Employees' Claims for Severance Pay]

Two United States Commission on Civil Rights employees submitted claims to the Claims Group for severance pay, contending that the regulation which precluded severance pay for employees of agencies scheduled to be abolished within 5 years of an employee's appointment was: (1) illegal because it imposed a condition on eligibility beyond those set forth in the severance pay statute; and (2) inapplicable to the Commission since it had been in existence for over 20 years. GAO found that: (1) a regulation which was incompatible with the statute under which it was promulgated must give way; and (2) since the Commission had been in continuous existence for over 20 years, the employees could not be viewed as having an expectation of separation at the time they were appointed. Accordingly, the claims were allowed.