Request for Reconsideration of Claim for Backpay

An employee requested reconsideration of a Claims Division settlement which denied his claim for packpay and alternative contractual delay damages. The employee, unofficially notified of his appointment to a Federal position, had terminated his previous employment when he was informed that due to fiscal restraints no reporting date could be specified. He claimed backpay to cover the 2-week period of his unemployment, contractual delay damages based on his loss of salary, and reimbursement of roundtrip airline fare for travel from his place of residence to the place of the Federal employment where he claimed to have reported for work. GAO held that an offer of employment does not give rise to a contractual relationship in the conventional sense, and found no basis on which to award the contractual delay damages claimed. The record showed that the employee was informed of his tentative reporting date by an individual who had no appointment authority; the actual appointment made 2 weeks later by the agency personnel officer was proper. There was no basis on which to award the backpay claimed for the 2-week period prior to the actual appointment. The fact that he terminated his previous employment on the expectation of an earlier appointment was immaterial, since an employee's election to resign such prior employment cannot operate to deprive an agency of its discretionary authority to appoint. Regarding the reimbursement of the airline fare, the employee made no explanation for the unauthorized travel performed 4 days after he was advised that a reporting date could not be set. Legislation provides that an agency may pay travel expenses of a new appointee if it has been determined that the position has been designated as a manpower shortage category position; however, nothing in the record indicated that this position was in that category. Thus, the travel expenses could not be reimbursed. Accordingly, the Claims Division settlement was affirmed.