Q: I was employed in January 2006 on a term position. Having been prior civil service, my service computation date was 1989. In August 2007, I was involuntarily laid off and received compensation for 148 hours of accrued annual leave in the amount of $3,877.60. I recently was charged by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service as being overpaid and was told my SCD was the reason, and that I received too much money when I left the job. I was told I was not entitled to receive eight hours per pay period, therefore I owe the government money.
I was rehired on Nov. 14, 2007, by the Defense Logistics Agency, and they adjusted my computation date, which is April 12, 1989. I receive eight hours of annual leave per pay period based on my SCD. Why would I owe money?
A: I have no idea whether you or your agency is correct. While it’s true that you were entitled to a lump-sum payment for any accrued and unused annual leave when you left, if you were credited with more annual leave than you were entitled to earn, then you were overpaid. The matter can be resolved by determining which leave accrual category you should have been in based on your years of service.
