[Decision Concerning DLA Employee's Claim for Reimbursement of Relocation Expenses]

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) requested an advance decision regarding a transferred employee's claim for reimbursement for relocation expenses. DLA advised that the claimant: (1) commuted from her former duty station to her new duty station so that her daughter could complete a school session; (2) sold her former residence after the school session ended; (3) purchased another residence at her former duty station after being transferred back; and (4) incurred temporary lodging and storage expenses between vacating her former residence and occupying her new residence. The claimant contended that she was entitled to reimbursement for temporary lodging expenses she incurred when she could not commute to her new station due to inclement weather. GAO held that the: (1) claimant's retransfer within 1 year of the initial transfer did not extinguish her rights to reimbursement for real estate sale and purchase expenses and related temporary lodging and storage expenses she incurred under two different transfer orders; and (2) claimant was not entitled to reimbursement for the temporary lodging expenses she incurred during inclement weather, since she had not vacated her former residence. Accordingly, the claim was allowed in part.