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Claim for Backpay

B-205641 Jun 22, 1982
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Highlights

An Army employee appealed a Claims Group decision which denied his claim for backpay. The record showed that the claimant had twice asked the Army for a position classification review and, when it appeared that no action had been taken, he filed a classification appeal with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The appeal was initially denied but, upon reconsideration, OPM reclassified the position to the next higher grade. Subsequently, the claimant requested backpay from the date he assumed the position to the date of reclassification. Both the Army and OPM denied the claim. When he filed his second claim with GAO, the employee added two arguments not initially considered: (1) the Army failed to take appropriate action within a reasonable time period in response to his request for reclassification; and (2) his statutory rights under the Civil Service Reform Act were violated. GAO found that: (1) the Civil Service Reform Act does not provide a remedy for periods of erroneous personnel classification; (2) administrative delays and grievance procedures resulting in promotion delays were insufficient to sustain an award of monetary damages; and (3) merit system principles did not provide a basis for legal action by the employee, since there was no showing that a law, rule, or regulation implementing or directly concerning the principles was violated. Accordingly, the action denying the backpay claim was sustained.

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