Walker and GAO staff dispute petition timing

David Walker, comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), said yesterday that he believes staffers were too late with the petition they filed contesting personnel practices.

{mosads}More than 225 current and former employees signed a petition alleging that the GAO has denied them rightful pay and benefits, and filed it yesterday with the GAO’s Personnel Appeals Board (PAB) Office of General Counsel.

“We have not received these filings and have not been able to review them; however, based on our knowledge of this matter, we believe these filings are untimely,” Walker said in a statement.

In standard personnel actions, a petitioner needs to file a complaint within 30 days of an action to be considered timely, a GAO spokesman said. Staff should therefore have filed nearly a year and a half ago, following a 2006 restructuring, he suggested.

A similar case involving 12 employees, settled in April, was considered timely because they filed immediately after the personnel reforms. The employees were given back pay and promotions.

GAO staffers say their motion is timely because they are filing within 30 days of learning about the results of the settlement.