Docket No. AWG 22-273

FINAL DECISION

The Postal Service, through the Treasury Department, seeks to collect an alleged overdrawn annual leave debt from former employee James Suggs by administrative wage garnishment. For the reasons discussed below, the Postal Service did not meet its burden of proof.
Accordingly, the petition is granted. The Treasury Department may not collect the debt by administrative wage garnishment. If the funds already collected were taken by administrative wage garnishment, the Postal Service must return those funds and any associated collection fees to Mr. Suggs.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Mr. Suggs was employed by the Postal Service from 2004 to 2007. The Postal Service did not provide his separation date, but he was employed through at least the end of pay period 3 of 2007, which was February 2, 2007 (Resp. Exhs. 1, 3).¹
2. The year before his separation, Mr. Suggs went from having a positive annual leave balance to a negative one. He ended the 2006 leave year with a negative balance of 52 hours. The Postal Service did not provide his salary, except for the last two pay periods of 2006. For those two pay periods, it was $41,446. (Resp. Exh. 3 at 17–18).
3. At the beginning of the 2007 leave year, based on his tenure, the Postal Service advanced 140 hours of annual leave to Mr. Suggs (Resp. Exh. 3 at 18).
4. During the first three pay periods of 2007, Mr. Suggs was either on Leave Without Pay or Absent Without Leave. He did not earn any hours of his advanced annual leave, nor did he take any annual leave (Resp. Exh. 3 at 17–19).
5. At the end of pay period 3 of 2007, Mr. Suggs had a negative annual leave balance of 52 hours, not considering any of his advanced leave (Resp. Exh. 3 at 17).
6. At some undefined date between February 2 and April 18, 2007, Mr. Suggs separated from the Postal Service (Resp. Exhs. 1 at 10, 3 at 17).
7. On April 18, 2007, the Postal Service issued to Mr. Suggs a Notice of Debt Determination and Invoice No. 701764253 for $930.50 because he allegedly had a negative annual leave balance of 52 hours when he separated. The Postal Service used $40,655 to calculate the monetary value of the 52 hours. (Resp. Exh. 1).
8. Mr. Suggs did not pay or dispute the invoice, and the Postal Service referred the debt to the Treasury Department for collection, which assigned a case number of 2007290876A (Pet. Exh. 2).
9. On June 2, 2021, the Treasury Department issued to Mr. Suggs a Notice of Intent to Initiate Administrative Wage Garnishment Proceedings (AWG notice). The AWG notice stated the Treasury Department’s intent to garnish Mr. Suggs’ wages to collect $1,209.65, which was a 30 percent increase from the invoice amount. (Id.).
10. In a response dated June 13 but received on July 19, 2021, Mr. Suggs asked for a hearing on the existence of the debt (Pet. Exh. 1).
11. The matter was then referred to the Judicial Officer Department for further proceedings. The parties elected to proceed with a decision based on my review of the written record. (Notice of Docketing, July 6, 2022; Order, May 18, 2023).
12. At some point after the debt was sent to the Treasury Department, the Postal Service applied $100.38 to the invoice amount, reducing that amount to $830.12 (Resp. Exh. 5).

DECISION

A separated employee’s negative annual leave balance equates to a salary overpayment, entitling the Postal Service to recover the monetary value of the unearned annual leave under the Debt Collection Act. Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) § 512.72. To recover, the Postal Service bears the initial burden of proving the existence and amount of the debt by a preponderance of the evidence. 31 C.F.R. § 285.11(f)(8); Terrell v. United States Postal Service, AO 21-77, 2021 WL 5579791, at *2 (Sept. 23, 2021).
The Postal Service can prove the existence of an overdrawn annual leave debt by showing the employee’s annual leave balance when the employee separated from the Postal Service. It can prove the amount by showing that it was based on the employee’s salary rate for the hours comprising the debt. Lynn v. United States Postal Service, AWG 23-290, 2024 WL 4164501 (July 31, 2024).
Here, the Postal Service failed to prove both the existence and amount of the debt. It failed to prove the existence of the debt because it provided no evidence of Mr. Suggs’ separation date. I therefore could not determine his annual leave balance as of that date.
The Postal Service filed five payroll journals covering pay period 25 of 2006 to pay period 3 of 2007. Each payroll journal showed a negative annual leave balance of 52 hours, not considering advanced leave.² But they also each showed that Mr. Suggs’ employment status was active, meaning his leave balance could have changed if he worked any hours after pay period 3 in 2007. The payroll journals did not show a separation date, even though they would have included that date if the employee previously separated. (Resp. Exh. 3; Handbook F-18, Payroll Journal Guide, 1–3 and Exh. A (Sept. 1990)).³
The only exhibit that mentioned Mr. Suggs’ separation was the invoice, dated April 18, 2007. But it also did not provide a specific separation date.
As for the amount of the debt, the Postal Service used an annual salary of $40,655 to calculate the monetary value of the 52 hours. But the Postal Service provided no proof that that was Mr. Suggs’ salary for those 52 hours.
In sum, the Postal Service did not provide sufficient evidence to prove either the existence or amount of the debt.

ORDER

The petition is granted. The Treasury Department is prohibited from collecting the debt by administrative wage garnishment. If the $100.38 previously collected was taken by administrative wage garnishment, the Postal Service must return that amount and any associated collection fees to Mr. Suggs.