[Claim for Retroactive Adjustment of Pay]
Highlights
An Air Force employee requested further consideration of his claim for retroactive adjustment of his pay. His claim was previously disallowed because the Claims Group determined that the two step-increase rule on promotions does not apply when saved pay is being received by the employee. The employee, who exercised his reemployment rights and accepted a lower grade, was entitled to saved pay under 5 U.S.C. 5337. During the saved pay period, he was promoted and received a permanent change-of-station transfer to an area of the country with a higher cost of living. The employee claimed that the saved pay should have been used for the purpose of the two step-increase rule upon his promotion to help offset the increased cost of living in the higher cost area. GAO held that the employee was not entitled to use the saved pay for this purpose because there is no statutory or regulatory basis for such a pay setting formula. Accordingly, denial of the employee's claim was sustained.