[Response to BLM Employee's Appeal for Waiver of Salary Overpayment]

A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee appealed a Claims Group settlement which denied her request for a waiver of a salary overpayment. BLM erroneously promoted the employee before she met the applicable time-in-grade requirement. GAO held that: (1) there was no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation on the employee's part; and (2) the overpayment was an administrative error and, while the employee should have been generally aware of the time-in-grade requirement, all of the documentation for her promotion appeared to be in order and she would have had no reason to suspect that the promotion was erroneous. Accordingly, the Claims Group settlement was overruled and the employee was granted a waiver.