Contrary to GAO assertion, some cases pending before appeals board

Despite claims by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that all restructuring issues were cleared up in a financial settlement with 12 of its employees early last month, there are still at least three cases pending before the agency’s Personnel Appeals Board (PAB), sources confirmed yesterday.

The GAO recently settled with the 12 employees, who claimed that a 2006 agency restructuring that split senior analysts into two groups was unjust and hurt them financially.

{mosads}In a statement on Thursday, Comptroller General David Walker said that all the cases have been worked out.

Yesterday, the GAO again said that there are no pending PAB cases that deal with the initial placement process, but conceded that there were three cases dealing with the restructuring.

“There are three PAB charges pending before the PAB Office of General Counsel in the investigative stage that involve the initial placement process,” said GAO spokesman Paul Anderson. “But those were not pending before the PAB at the time of the settlement.”

Last year, the GAO used a compensation study as grounds to deny 17 percent of analysts, or 308 employees, a cost-of-living adjustment and separated 1,200 senior analysts into two groups: Eight hundred analysts went into one category with a lower pay rate, while 400 analysts were placed in another with a higher pay rate.

There are also 35 pending complaints in the Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness, which deals with discrimination cases, according to the GAO website.