[Request for Reconsideration of Claims Group Denial of Claim for Environmental Differential Pay]

A Navy employee requested reconsideration of the Claims Group's denial of his claim for environmental differential pay. The Navy had determined on the basis of an industrial hygiene evaluation that, since personal protective equipment was available, the employee did not meet the criteria to establish entitlement to environmental differential pay. GAO will not substitute its judgment for that of an agency's absent clear and convincing evidence that the agency's determination was arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, the disallowance of the claim was sustained.