Claims for Pay Retention Upon Entering Training Program

The issue of this decision was whether employees who accept demotions in order to enter internal training programs were entitled to pay retention under Federal regulations. This decision is in response to claims from three Department of the Navy employees for pay retention incident to their accepting downgrades in order to enter training programs for different positions. The Navy has denied pay retention to all three employees. Two of the employees entered the Quality and Reliability Assurance Training Program and accepted downgrades to the position of Quality Assurance Specialist. Both employees were assured by Navy officials that they would be entitled to saved pay for a period of up to 2 years. Both employees argued that they would not have agreed to enter the training programs and accept the downgrades if they had known they would not receive saved pay. The other employee who entered a Career Development Program argued that she was entitled to salary retention based upon previous decisions and provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act. With the enactment of the Act, employees who suffer a reduction in pay under circumstances prescribed by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations may be entitled to pay retention. Since this case involved an analysis of new regulations under the Act, GAO asked OPM for its views based on the facts in this case. OPM stated that, in order to receive pay retention, an employee must enter a Government-wide upward mobility, apprenticeship, or career intern program, and entrance into an internal training program does not entitle an employee to pay retention. OPM concluded that, since the first two employees went from Wage Grade to General Schedule positions incident to demotions not at their request, they were entitled to pay retention concerning reassignments to different wage schedules. With regard to the claim of the last employee, GAO noted that, unlike the first two employees, she did not undergo a reassignment to a different wage schedule incident to the demotion upon entering the training program. The employee was not entitled to pay retention since she did not enter one of the three specified Government-wide training programs.