[Request for Review of Backpay Claim Settlement]

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee requested a review of the Claims Group's denial of his claim for backpay and step-increase-waiting-time credit pursuant to his assignment to the merit pay system and subsequent reassignment to the General Schedule (GS) system. EPA assigned the claimant to its merit pay system after it determined that he was a management official but subsequently settled a grievance he filed by reassigning him as a GS employee. The employee contended that the assignment caused him to lose wages and caused a delay in his within-grade step increase. GAO held that: (1) the claim was without merit because EPA did not reassign the employee wrongfully or as the result of an administrative error; and (2) EPA could not retroactively adjust the claimant's waiting time for a step increase. Accordingly, the Claims Group's settlement was sustained.