Requests for Reconsideration

A Veterans Administration (VA) hospital employee requested reconsideration of his claim for environmental differential pay for exposure to micro-organisms with a high degree of hazard. Based on a VA determination that the employee was entitled to differential pay for low degree hazard only, the Claims Group denied the original claim and stated that GAO would not substitute its judgment for that of VA officials without evidence indicating that the VA determination was arbitrary or capricious. The employee's request for reconsideration was premised on an arbitrator's final decision which concluded that the personnel at the hospital in question work under both the high and low degree risk circumstances. In accordance with procedures set forth in existing Federal regulations, GAO would neither review nor comment on the decision of the arbitrator and would not review the employee's claim on the basis of the arbitrator's decision. Therefore, the prior claims settlement was sustained.