[Request for Payment of Additional Environmental Differential Pay]

Pursuant to a request by the National Association of Government Employees, GAO determined whether a National Park Service employee was entitled to payment of additional environmental differential pay. The employee filed a claim with the agency in July 1981 for environmental differential pay for the period 1970 to 1981, and the agency paid him retroactive environmental differential pay for the period from July 1975 to August 1981. The instant claim was for the period July 1971 to July 1975. Because the period for filing timely claims with the Comptroller General against the United States was reduced from 10 to 6 years in July 1975, GAO held that: (1) the claim for the period 1975 to 1981 was governed by the 6-year limitation period; and (2) it had no authority to waive or modify the provisions of the law changing the limitation period. In addition, GAO determined that, because the claim was paid by the agency in October 1982, but was not received by GAO until December 1982, the agency could pay only that portion of the claim which accrued not more than 6 years from the date of payment, rather than 6 years from the date the agency received the claim. Therefore, the employee was entitled only to that portion of his claim beginning in October 1976. Accordingly, GAO denied the claim for the period prior to July 1975, and noted that the erroneous overpayment for the period before October 1976 could be considered for waiver.