[Retroactive Promotions]

The Secretary of Agriculture requested a decision concerning the entitlement to retroactive promotions of eight employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service whose promotions were delayed due to a clerical error which occurred prior to the approval of the promotion requests by the authorized official. GAO has held that errors in processing promotions may not be remedied when the error occurred prior to the time the authorized official signed the promotion papers except in certain circumstances, including when the clerical error would result in noncompliance with nondiscretionary administrative regulations or policies. While the agency had no written nondiscretionary policy of promoting employees on their eligibility date, it did have an established policy of promoting employees as soon as they became eligible. This policy was implemented by established procedures and was communicated to affected employees. Therefore, a nondiscretionary policy existed. Since the agency failed to carry out the policy due to a clerical error, it committed an unjustified personnel action. Accordingly, the eight employees may be retroactively promoted as of their eligibility dates.