[Request for Reconsideration of Denial of Overpayments Waiver]

A Department of Agriculture employee requested reconsideration of the Claims Group's denial of his request for a waiver of liability for overpayments he received as a result of incorrect determinations of his base salary. The record showed that, when the employee accepted an appointment that reduced his grade classification, he was awarded pay retention with subsequent adjustments to salary increases. On two separate occasions, his salary was adjusted incorrectly. The employee stated that he immediately questioned the increases and was orally assured by personnel officials that they were correct. In its reconsideration, GAO determined that the employee was not at fault in accepting the initial overpayments, since there was no indication that he had any knowledge upon which to question the assurances of the personnel officials. However, since the record showed that the employee knowingly accepted the subsequent overpayments, GAO found that he was not free from fault and was not entitled to full relief from liability. Accordingly, the prior decision was reversed in part and sustained in part subject to limitations.