[Request for Reconsideration of Denial of Claim for Training Expenses]

A Maritime Administration employee requested reconsideration of a GAO decision which denied her request for a refund of training expenses. The employee breached a service agreement by resigning from the agency before the requisite period of time for reimbursement had passed. She paid the debt for the uncompleted portion of her obligation, but she requested a refund of that payment when she was later rehired. GAO denied the original request for a refund because it concluded that: (1) the debt between the employee and the agency had been extinguished; and (2) the employee's new service agreement did not extend the debt or renew it. However, in reconsidering its earlier decision, GAO obtained additional information from the agency and concluded that: (1) the payment received by the agency subsequent to the employee's reemployment may be refunded to her because the agency had waived its right of recovery, since collection had not been effected at the time of her reemployment; and (2) the sum representing the salary and leave payments due the employee at the time of her resignation may not be refunded to her and must be paid by the agency into a miscellaneous receipts account of the U.S. Treasury unless the agency has the statutory authority to retain the funds. Accordingly, the original decision was modified.