Request for Reimbursement of Overdraft Charges

A request was made for a decision concerning the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) denial of an employee's claim for reimbursement of overdraft charges which he incurred when FAA erroneously failed to deposit his paycheck with his bank. In anticipation of his impending permanent change of station, the employee requested that his paychecks be mailed to that station. Due to an administrative error, the payroll office processed the address change in another pay period which resulted in the employee's paycheck for that period not being deposited with the bank. The employee, unaware of the error, wrote several checks on the bank account for which funds were insufficient and for which he incurred overdraft charges. The applicable statute entitles a Government employee to elect to have his or her paycheck deposited directly into that employee's bank account. Federal regulations establish certain procedures for the use of this direct deposit service. However, neither that statute nor the regulations authorize the Government to reimburse its employees for service charges on checks drawn on insufficient funds where the Government has undertaken but failed to deposit employees' paychecks directly with the employees' banks. In addition, GAO is unaware of any other statutory authority that would authorize GAO to allow the employee's claim. Accordingly, the disallowance of the employee's claim was affirmed.