[Request for Waiver of Overpayments]

The Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing requested that GAO grant waiver of repayment of overpayments made to 14 Bureau employees. Since repayment may not be waived if the application for waiver is received after the expiration of 3 years immediately following the date on which the erroneous payment was discovered, GAO considered whether the claims for waiver were filed in a timely manner. GAO concluded that the waiver requests were not time barred. Further, GAO determined that one waiver request for all 14 employees was proper. GAO noted that the law permits waiver when the collection of the erroneous payment would be against equity and good conscience and not in the best interests of the United States, and only when there is no indication of fraud, misrepresentation, fault, or lack of good faith by the employees. In this case, the administrative report stated that there was no indication of fraud or misrepresentation by the employees and that none of the employees knew that they were incorrectly paid since their branch was the only one receiving differential environmental pay, their Standard Form 50's had not shown that rate, and their pay often varied. GAO found that the employees who received the payments did so in good faith and with no knowledge that they were erroneous. Therefore, collection of the payments would be against equity and good conscience and not in the best interests of the United States. Accordingly, collection of the erroneous payments was waived.