P.S. Docket No. AO 14-248


January 6, 2015

In the Matter of the Administrative Offset Petition

DAVID L. DEPUMPO v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE

P.S. Docket No. AO 14-248

APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER:
David L. DePumpo

APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT:
James M. Gavner
Labor Relations Specialist
United States Postal Service

INITIAL DECISION

The United States Postal Service, Respondent, seeks to collect $2,674.94 from David L. DePumpo, Petitioner, for 104 hours of unearned annual leave. Because the Postal Service has met its burden of proof, I deny the Petition and rule in favor of the Postal Service, which may collect $100 per month from Mr. DePumpo until the debt is satisfied.

FINDINGS OF FACT

  1. Mr. DePumpo retired from the Postal Service on July 31, 2013, during pay period 17-2013 (Petition; Respondent Exh. 1).
  2. The Postal Service assessed Mr. DePumpo with a debt for 104 hours of annual leave which he used, but did not earn. The value of this leave and the associated taxes is $2,674.94. (Respondent Exh. 1; Tr. 17-19).
  3. The Postal Service bases its position on the payroll journal which is a system of electronic pay records (Respondent Exh. 1; Tr. 26, 53-54). The payroll journal for pay period 17-2013 shows that Mr. DePumpo carried a negative balance of 64 hours of annual leave from 2012 into 2013, earned 104 hours of annual leave in 2013, and used 144 hours of annual leave in 2013 before he retired, which leaves a negative balance of 104 hours of annual leave (Respondent Exhs. 1; 3 at 7).
  4. However, the payroll journal for pay period 17-2013 also shows a negative annual leave balance of 8 hours (Respondent Exh. 3 at 7). This number reflects the difference between the 96 hours Mr. DePumpo would have earned during the remainder of the year and the negative balance of 104 hours (Tr. 21, 67-68).1
  5. Almost a year after his retirement, the Postal Service sent Mr. DePumpo a letter explaining that he owed $2,674.94 for the 104 hours of unearned annual leave plus the taxes associated with this leave (Respondent Exhs. 1, 2; Tr. 45-46).
  6. Mr. DePumpo produced for the record his last five pay stubs covering pay periods 13-2013 through 17-2013 (Petitioner Exhs. 1-5; Tr. 66). The pay stubs are PS Form 1223-B, are generated by the Postal Service, and provide a summary of the leave data (Tr. 42-44). The Postal Service did not save a copy of the pay stubs provided to Mr. DePumpo in 2012 and 2013 and does not have a way to reproduce them (Tr. 61).
  7. Mr. DePumpo did not produce his leave forms, time records, or any other pay stubs (Tr. 66).
  8. The Postal Service experienced a software problem (variously described in the record as a “system problem,” “coding problem,” or “program problem”) in the pay stub system between pay periods 11 to 22 of 2013 which resulted in a negative sign not being printed on pay stubs. Mr. DePumpo retired during this period of time (i.e., pay period 17-2013). (Tr. 24-26, 55-56).
  9. The last pay stub (pay period 17-2013) shows a positive leave balance of 64 hours being carried forward from 2012 to 2013 (i.e., it does not have a negative sign or parenthesis around the number showing it to be a negative number). It also shows that Mr. DePumpo earned 104 hours of annual leave in 2013. It then shows an “Earned Balance” of 40 hours of annual leave. The pay stub also shows that he used 144 hours of annual leave in 2013. (Petitioner Exh. 5). When combined, the 144 hours of used annual leave and the Earned Balance of 40 hours of annual leave yields a negative balance of 104 hours of annual leave.
  10. The pay stub for pay period 17-2013 shows a positive balance of 8 hours of annual leave (i.e., the balance does not have a negative sign in front of it or a parenthesis to indicate a negative balance). (Petitioner Exh. 5).

 

DECISION

To recover in a salary overpayment case, the Postal Service must prove that it made the salary overpayments to Mr. DePumpo, the amount of those payments, and that Mr. DePumpo is not entitled to keep those payments. See, e.g., Patricia A. Skadsberg v. United States Postal Service, P.S. Docket Nos. DCA 14-198 and 14-200 (September 14, 2014). If the Postal Service proves these elements, the burden shifts to Mr. DePumpo to demonstrate that he is entitled to keep the overpayment. See Matthew J. Williams, Jr., P.S. Docket No. AO 13-375 (I.D. March 20, 2014).

In the present case, the Postal Service met its initial burden of proof based on the records in the payroll journal (Findings 3 and 4). In response, Mr. DePumpo argues that he had a positive leave balance of 8 hours when he retired based on his final pay stub (see Finding 10). However, Mr. DePumpo did not provide evidence as to the amount of leave he had actually earned before he retired or whether he carried over a positive leave balance from 2012 to 2013 (Finding 7). Additionally, Mr. DePumpo did not contest that he had earned 104 hours of leave in 2013 or that he had taken 144 hours of leave in 2013.

In rebuttal, the Postal Service explained that the pay stub system had a software problem which did not show a negative sign in front of leave balances (Finding 10)2.

Notwithstanding the lack of a negative sign in front of the 64 hours of leave carried forward from 2012 to 2013, or a negative sign in front of the balance of 8 hours, the math on the last pay stub otherwise works out the same as in the payroll journal (compare Findings 4 and 9). Given that the payroll journal and the last pay stub would provide the same results but for the lack of a negative sign on the pay stub, the Postal Service’s credible explanation of a software problem which resulted in the negative signs not being printed on the pay stubs, and the lack of evidence from Mr. DePumpo that he actually carried a positive leave balance forward from 2012, I conclude that the Postal Service has met its burden of proof.

Mr. DePumpo provided evidence of his income and expenses and proposed a monthly payment amount of $100 (Tr. 77-78). The Postal Service did not oppose this payment amount; therefore, I adopt it.

ORDER

The Petition is denied. The Postal Service may collect $100 a month from Mr. DePumpo until the debt of $2,674.94 is paid.

Peter F. Pontzer
Administrative Judge

 

1 The Postal Service advanced Mr. DePumpo 208 hours of annual leave at the beginning of the year. Each pay period, Mr. DePumpo would earn 8 hours of annual leave which would change the advanced leave to earned leave. Pay period 3 is the first pay period in calendar year 2013. Mr. DePumpo retired in the middle of pay period 17, so this pay period was not included in the time remaining to earn leave. Thus, twelve pay periods remained in the year in which Mr. DePumpo could have earned 8 hours of annual leave a pay period for an additional 96 hours of earned annual leave. (Tr. 20-22); http://www.gsa.gov/portal/mediaId/145871/fileName/payroll-calendar-2013.action.

2 While the record includes testimony that the pay stub did not include a negative sign in front of the carryover balance, I find it likely that that the problem also extended to the total balance and thus the positive 8 hours should be a negative eight hours.