Claim for Retroactive Temporary Promotion and Backpay

An employee appealed a Claims Division settlement which denied her claim for a retroactive temporary promotion with backpay. The GS-4 employee was informally detailed to a GS-7 position as a Training Coordinator for a period of about 13 months. The agency denied her claim because she did not satisfy the legal requirement of 1 year in grade GS-6, she lacked the 2 years of specialized experience in the training field, which the agency determined was necessary to qualify for the Training Coordinator GS-5 position. The employee contended that the position was clerical rather than training in nature, and submitted a copy of the position description and the position classification evaluation report. GAO believed that the duties and responsibilities, as set forth in the position description, involved relatively substantive knowledge and skills in the field of employee development. The descriptions of the positions which the employee had held indicated that the experience was not sufficiently substantive to qualify as specialized employee development experience. GAO concluded that although the employee could be credited for 20 months of the required 24 months of specialized experience, she did not meet the qualifications for the Training Coordinator GS-5 position at any time during her detail. Accordingly, the Claims Division decision disallowing the claim was sustained.