P.S. Docket No. VA 15-41


July 23, 2015

In the Matter of the Debt Collection Act Petition

STANLEY M. PHILLIPS v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

P.S. Docket No. VA 15-41

APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER:
Stanley M. Phillips

APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT:
David Reckhart
Senior Financial Analyst

FINAL DECISION UNDER THE DEBT COLLECTION ACT OF 1982

Petitioner, Stanley Phillips, challenges a $3,281.76 debt assessment by Respondent, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  The dispute involves the appropriate rate of Petitioner’s annual leave accrual.  Using the rate argued by Petitioner eliminates the assessed debt.  I apply that rate and rule in favor of Dr. Phillips.

FINDINGS OF FACT

  1. From 1978 to 1998, Petitioner served as an aviation electronics technician in the Coast Guard (August 10, 2014 Reconsideration Denial (Recons.)).
  2. Petitioner received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2004 (Recons.).
  3. From December 2005 until August 2010, Petitioner worked as a GS-11 pharmacist for the Army at a medical center in Georgia.  Petitioner’s SF 50 indicated a service computation date (SCD) of December 12, 2005.  (Resp. Exhs. 2-3).  The SCD is used to calculate an employee’s rate of annual leave accrual (Recons. at 1).
  4. On August 29, 2010, the VA hired Petitioner as a GS-12 pharmacist in Washington, which was necessary, in part, for the VA to satisfy a national patient safety goal.  Initially, the SF 50 issued by the VA identified Petitioner’s SCD as August 29, 2010, and indicated that no creditable military service applied.  (Resp. Exh. 4 at 1; Pet. Statement at 1).
  5. Also on August 29, 2010, the VA issued a corrected SF 50 which credited Petitioner with 20 years of service time accrued with the Coast Guard.  The VA therefore changed Petitioner’s SCD to December 10, 1985.  (Resp. Exh. 4 at 2).
  6. On October 8, 2010, the VA issued another corrected SF 50, indicating that its purpose was “Change In Service Computation Date.”  The VA accordingly changed Petitioner’s leave accrual group to account for his previously-credited Coast Guard service.  The VA cited 5 U.S.C. § 6303 as the legal authority for the correction.  (Resp. Exh. 4 at 3; Pet. Exh. 2; Pet. Statement at 1).  The corrected SCD resulted in Petitioner’s annual leave accrual rate increasing to 8 hours/pay period (Recons. at 1).
  7. In November 2011, the VA promoted Petitioner to GS-13 and transferred him to Texas.  His SCD remained December 10, 1985 (Pet. Exhs. 3-4).
  8. In April 2014, the VA transferred Petitioner to Missouri and changed his SCD to December 12, 2005.  The SF 50 stated that the SCD was changed from 1985 to 2005 “to reflect service which has been ruled creditable.”  The SF 50 also stated:  “Employee was leave group 3 from 08/29/2010 to 04/19/2014, should have been leave group 2.  Leave adjustment needed for pay period 18-2010 ending 09/11/2010 through pay period 07-2014 ending 04/19/2014.”   The SCD change resulted in Petitioner’s annual leave accrual rate being reduced retroactively for the indicated period from 8 hours/pay period to 6 hours/pay period.  The SF 50’s legal authority section was blank.  (Pet. Exhs. 5, 6).
  9. In June 2014, the VA sent Petitioner a letter1 explaining the debt (Recons.).
  10. The SCD change resulted in 77.25 hours of overused annual leave from November 2, 2013 until December 28, 2013.  The VA calculated the overused leave at a gross amount of $4,332.95 and a net amount of $3,281.76, after reductions for payroll deductions and additional unexplained “adjustments.”2
  11. The VA denied Petitioner’s subsequent reconsideration request in August 2014 (Recons.).  Petitioner filed a Debt Collection Act Petition on October 24, 2014, and the VA forwarded the matter to this office for resolution3 on February 19, 2015.  The parties jointly requested that I resolve the case based on written submissions without a hearing.  I granted that request.  See May 4, 2015 Order and Memorandum of Telephone Conference.

DECISION

To succeed in this Debt Collection Act case, the VA bears the burden to prove that it provided Dr. Phillips more annual leave than he was entitled, that he overused the correct amount of accrued annual leave, that he was paid for the unearned portion, the amount of the payments, and that Dr. Phillips was not entitled to those payments.  See Teng v. United States Postal Service, AO 14-267 (I.D. April 17, 2015).

This case turns on whether Petitioner’s Coast Guard service should be included in his SCD calculation within the meaning of the applicable statute, 5 U.S.C. § 6303.  The parties present a variety of arguments interpreting the statute.  However, I need not determine Petitioner’s eligibility under sections 6303(a) or 6303(e)(1), whether an administrative error occurred, nor resolve the amount of overused leave if any, because another section of the statute is dispositive.  Section 6303(e)(2)(B) of Title 5 provides that once prior military service is credited to an employee, it “shall not thereafter cease to be so creditable, unless the employee fails to complete a full year of continuous service with the agency.”

Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management describing this section of the statute as “Permanence of Service Credit After 1 Full Year of Continuous Service” provides:

  • Once an employee completes 1 full year of continuous service with the appointing agency, the period of service for which the employee was granted service credit for non-federal or active duty uniformed service work experience is permanently creditable for the purpose of determining the employee’s annual leave accrual rate for the duration of the employee’s career.

(Resp. Exh. 6 at 2).

Similarly, a VA Handbook (5011/14) implementing 5 U.S.C. § 6003 provides that “[o]nce an employee completes one full year of continuous service with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the period for which he/she was previously granted service credit becomes permanent and is creditable for the purpose of determining the employee’s annual leave accrual rate.” (Resp. Exh. 6 at 3).

At the time of the VA’s 2010 recruitment and hiring of Petitioner, it credited him for SCD purposes with his Coast Guard service, specifically relying on 5 U.S.C. § 6303 (Findings 5-6).  The VA attempted to reverse that decision four years later (Finding 8).  However, once one year expired from the VA’s 2010 decision to credit Petitioner’s Coast Guard service, that service credit became permanent and the VA lacked the authority to change it.  Accordingly, I find that Petitioner’s SCD remained December 10, 1985, that his leave was calculated correctly as a result, and that consequently, his annual leave was not overused.

The Petition is granted.

ORDER

The VA is prohibited from collecting the $3,281.76 assessed debt from Dr. Phillips by involuntary administrative salary offset.

Gary E. Shapiro
Administrative Judge

1 The letter is summarized in the Reconsideration Denial but not included in the record.

2 The conclusory summary calculations included in the VA’s Reconsideration Denial are the only relevant calculations in the record.  The VA’s Reconsideration Denial identified several attached documents, including the debt letter, leave and earning statements, a leave audit conducted by DFAS, and an email string with supporting documentation.  Neither party provided those documents to me.

3 My jurisdiction to resolve this Petition is found in a Memorandum of Understanding between the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs providing for the use of administrative judges and administrative law judges from this office to hear matters arising under the Debt Collection Act of 1982, 5 U.S.C. § 5514.  The Memorandum of Understanding is on file with the USPS Judicial Officer, 2101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 600, Arlington, Virginia  22201.  Procedural matters in this forum are governed by 39 C.F.R. Part 961.