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Pay & Leave Claim Decisions

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Office of the General Counsel

Date: July 31, 1998
Matter of: [xxx]
File Number: s001920

OPM Contact: Murray M. Meeker

The claimant, an employee with the [xxx] of the [agency], claims back pay in the amount of "$2,000 per year from 1982 to [the] present" plus interest, based on the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in National Treasury Employees Union v. James B. King, 132 F.3d 736 (Fed. Cir. 1998).(1) The claimant has misread the Federal Circuit's decision.

The claimant correctly states that the Federal Circuit has determined that the salary conversion rule promulgated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 1982 was unlawful and that OPM's pre-1982 rule is the proper measure of damages for plaintiffs. However, the Federal Circuit has not ordered the Federal Government to make payment. Rather, the Federal Circuit has remanded the matter "for a determination of plaintiffs' proper award." Thus, this matter is currently pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This office, therefore, has no jurisdiction at this time to interrupt or otherwise interfere with these judicial proceedings.

This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within OPM. Nothing in this settlement limits the employee's right to bring an action in an appropriate United States Court.

1. The claimant states that in compliance with the filing requirements of 4 C.F.R. Part 31, he has filed his claim with both OPM and the General Accounting Office (GAO). It should, therefore, be noted that (1) effective June 30, 1996, GAO's claims adjudication authority to settle federal civilian employees' claims for compensation and leave was transferred to OPM [see 31 U.S.C.  3702, as amended by the General Accounting Office Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-316,  202(n), 110 Stat. 3826], and (2) that on December 31, 1997, OPM published regulations entitled "Procedures for Settling Claims," codified at 5 C.F.R. Part 178, which set forth the requirements for filing administrative claims from current and former civilian employees for compensation and leave.