12/08/1999

The waiver of an employee's debt for the erroneous overpayment of pay and allowances under 5 U.S.C. § 5584 is not appropriate when the employee is aware or should be aware that she is receiving payments that may exceed her entitlements. The employee does not acquire title to any excess payments merely because the government committed administrative error, and she has the duty to hold the payments until she is requested to repay the excess amount or until the propriety of the payments are established. In such a situation, waiver is not appropriate. The Deputy General Counsel (Fiscal), Department of Defense, affirmed this decision on December 12, 2000.

09/28/1999

Due to administrative error, an employee received a within-grade step increase one year before it was due. An employee is expected to know the proper timing of within-grade increases. Particularly after he experiences a two-year wait between step increases, he should question a step increase after one year. In such a situation, waiver of the resulting overpayments is not appropriate.

08/16/1999

Under 5 U.S.C. § 5584, waiver is precluded when an employee is aware that he is being overpaid. In such a situation the employee does not acquire title to the overpayment and has a duty to hold the excess amounts for eventual repayment.

06/30/1999

An employee's waiver request is denied where the record indicates that she received two salary payments for a pay period. The employee is considered partially at fault under the waiver statute for not having questioned her entitlement to the payments. Her mere contention that she expected a salary check from a new assignment at the time is insufficient to provide for waiver of the debt.

05/27/1999

A debt which arises due to reconciliation of an employee's Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) cannot be considered for waiver under 5 U.S.C. § 5584 if the LQA payments were proper when made.

04/20/1999

An employee had participated in the Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program with only Basic Life Insurance prior to transfer to a new installation. Upon transfer, due to administrative error, premium deductions from his salary were discontinued. The employee states that he met with personnel officials to discuss various discrepancies in his personnel record, and he decided at that time to waive further enrollment in FEGLI. No SF-50 or other written confirmation was issued to document the employee's waiver of insurance. Various SF-50s, including one which contained details of the employee's transfer, noted that the employee remained in the FEGLI with basic life coverage. More than 3 years after transfer, the employee opted to re-institute his participation, and upon review, personnel officials found that he was still enrolled in the FEGLI program because he had not properly waived participation as required in applicable regulations when he was transferred. Under 5 U.S.C. § 5584, it is not proper to waive the indebtedness resulting from the erroneous overpayment of salary (failure to deduct for insurance premiums) over the more than three years following the transfer because the employee is partially at fault in that the SF-50s indicated that he was still enrolled in FEGLI and he failed to bring this to the attention of appropriate officials. Moreover, if the employee had died during the three-year period, his beneficiary would have received life insurance proceeds (minus the unpaid premiums).

04/15/1999

When an employee is aware that he has received an overpayment, he does not acquire title to the excess amounts, and he has a duty to hold the money for eventual repayment. In such circumstances waiver is not proper under 5 U.S.C. § 5584.

03/31/1999

When an employee is aware that she is receiving pay in excess of her entitlement, she does not acquire title to the excess amounts and has a duty to return them to the government when asked to do so. In such a situation, waiver under 5 U.S.C. § 5584 is not appropriate.

03/04/1999

When an employee was transferred from Japan to the United States, health insurance premiums erroneously ceased to be deducted from his pay. The employee should have reviewed his leave and earnings statements in sufficient detail to detect the error and should have called the error to the attention of the appropriate authorities. Since the member is thus at least partially at fault in the accrual of the debt, waiver under 5 U.S.C. § 5584 is precluded.

02/18/1999

When an employee is aware that he has received an overpayment, he does not acquire title to the excess amounts, and he has a duty to hold the money for eventual repayment. In such circumstances waiver is not proper under 5 U.S.C. § 5584.

02/18/1999

An employee received a partial salary payment during an extended leave-without-pay period and another full payment 2 months after retirement. The employee should not have anticipated a salary payment during his LWOP, nor a full pay period salary payment after his retirement date. The employee is considered partially at fault under the waiver statute for his failure to make inquiries to verify the nature and amount of these payments; and, therefore, waiver is precluded. This decision was modified by the Deputy General Counsel (Fiscal), Department of Defense, on February 9, 2001.

01/11/1999

Following reassignment, an employee's pay should have remained at the same level, but was erroneously raised a step. The erroneous increase was noted on a Notification of Personnel Action which the employee received. The overpayments continued for almost six years. Waiver under 5 U. S.C. § 5584 is precluded because the employee had notice of the error and did not bring it to the attention of the proper authorities. This decision was affirmed by the Deputy General Counsel (Fiscal), Department of Defense, on April 4, 2001.