Claim for Retroactive Temporary Promotion and Backpay

A request was made for an advance decision as to what effect the Barring Act had on the claim for retroactive temporary promotion and backpay of a National Park Service employee. The record showed that the employee filed a claim dated May 1980 with the Park Service for a retroactive temporary promotion and backpay. The employee claimed he had been detailed to a higher grade from April 1973 until March 1975. The certifying officer stated that, although the employee's backpay claim appeared proper, the portion prior to May 1974 was more than 6 years from the date he filed his claim with the Park Service. The Barring Act requires that all claims cognizable by GAO must be received by GAO within 6 years after the date the claim first accrued or be barred. The date of recording in GAO is the date the claim would be regarded as having been received at GAO for the purposes of tolling the statute of limitations. Filing a claim with the agency does not toll the running of the Act, even though the delay at the agency level is the fault of the agency, not the employee. The date the claim first accrued refers to the date on which the work in question was performed. Thus, GAO could consider only the portion of the employee's claim that occurred within 6 years prior to the date it was recorded in GAO. The question remained as to when the employee's claim was filed at GAO. The request for a decision cannot be considered as tolling the Act since the employee's claim with his signature and address was not sent with the request nor did the request for a decision transmit a signed voucher. The employee sent GAO a letter received February 9, 1981, in which he stated his claim accompanied by his signature and address. It was not until the date GAO received the letter that the Act's strict requirements were met and its application to the claim tolled. Accordingly, the employee was paid backpay on his claim for a retroactive temporary promotion only from February 9, 1975, until March 30, 1975. The remaining portion of his claim was time barred.