Request for Retroactive Temporary Promotion

A library technician appealed a Claims Division action which disallowed her claim for a retroactive promotion and backpay. The claim was based on the ground that she had been detailed to and performed the duties of the position of a professional librarian for about two years. GAO returned the claim to the agency for settlement based on decisions which held that an employee detailed to two or more grades above the appointed position is entitled to a retroactive promotion to the highest grade to which he or she could have been promoted under the law. The agency returned the claim stating that the employee did not meet the requirements for the position as described in the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Handbook. Retroactive temporary promotions and backpay claims have been previously denied because employees did not meet the minimum requirements in the CSC Handbook. GAO held that, in order for the employee, in this case, to be eligible for a retroactive promotion, she must have been eligible for permanent promotion to that position. Since the employee did not meet the requirements for the position to which she was detailed, the claim for retroactive temporary promotion was denied, and the action of the Claims Division was sustained.