On 27 January 2012 I received a Decision on the Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) Claim that I filed with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), 319 days earlier, on 29 March 2011.
My Claim was declined and after reviewing the Decision, I immediately saw several issues with the information presented by the signatory, Ms. Judith Davis, OPM, and wrote back to her detailing the inconsistances that I saw along with a request for clarification on several points.
I received a reply back from Ms. Davis stating that "...as stated in the last paragprah of the decision, the decision is not subject to further review within OPM." I again wrote back to Ms. Davis with my questions and, again, she wrote back to me stating that "...OPM has fully and fairly considered your claim." Ms. Davis then goes on to state, again, that OPM will not provide any information to me, but I "...have the right to seek redress in an appropriate Federal court."
I am a civil servant, working for the US Navy, here in Yokosuka Japan. I came here in 2008 to work on a US Navy contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and, in 2009, had the part of the contract that I was working on deemed to be "purely Governmental in nature". Due to this, the job that I was filling on the CSC contract was cut from the follow-on bridge contract and, through a long and convoluted process, I was hired as a civil servant with the US Navy.
Up until the final two weeks, after beign reassured that everything was going to ok up to that point, being verbally told that I was approved, and seeing emails to NCTS-FE leadership showing my name on the list of people who had been reviewed and approved, I was suddenly denied LQA. LQA is currently ~$64,000 a year for a person, with family, in the Yokosuka area of Japan.
After being assured that, if I accepted, HRO would continue to process paperwork that I filed and try to help me sort though what happened, all communication stopped once HRO fulfilled their promise to ensure that we were "on board' before the CSC contract ran out and I lost my SOFA visa and authorization to stay in the country.
Due to the lack of response to my questions, I petitioned my Congressman, Congressman VanHollen, Maryland. Congressman VanHollen filed two Congressional inquiries on my behalf in an attempt to assist me, but in the end even the Congressman's office was unable to get satisfactory responses from the US Navy Office of Civilian Human Resources and suggested that I file a claim with OPM.
I eventually filed My Claim with OPM because the US Navy, after witholding information from me on my own status, reporting false information to Congressman VanHollen and myself, and repeatedly declining to answer my questions, told me that they would also no longer respond to me. OPM was the only route, outside the court system, that I could go to and now they also decline to provide answers to me.
The mission of OPM is "[t]o support the Federal government's ability to have the best workforce possible to do the best job possible". OPM states that they exist to "serve employing agencies, Federal employees, retirees, their families, and the public through technical assistance..."
With that in mind, I filed My LQA Claim With OPM, received OCHR's Response to My Claim, and submitted My Comments on their Response.
John Berry, director of OPM, has stated that OPM is "...excited about engaging further with our stakeholders - employees, unions, the public, academia, other agencies, and non-profit organizations - to create a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative Government" and I emailed him on 14 February concerning the lack of transparency that I have experienced, but have yet to receive a reply back.
I emailed the OPM Inspector General on 2 February with concerns over I have with several statements in the Decision along with comments made by Ms. Davis concerning her mistakenly sending me a "draft" version of the Decision, which was printed, signed, dated, rescanned into OPM systems, and then emailed out to several people, but I have also yet to receive a reply from his office.
I have a hard time asking for help, but don't know where to go or what to do now...
My Claim was declined and after reviewing the Decision, I immediately saw several issues with the information presented by the signatory, Ms. Judith Davis, OPM, and wrote back to her detailing the inconsistances that I saw along with a request for clarification on several points.
I received a reply back from Ms. Davis stating that "...as stated in the last paragprah of the decision, the decision is not subject to further review within OPM." I again wrote back to Ms. Davis with my questions and, again, she wrote back to me stating that "...OPM has fully and fairly considered your claim." Ms. Davis then goes on to state, again, that OPM will not provide any information to me, but I "...have the right to seek redress in an appropriate Federal court."
I am a civil servant, working for the US Navy, here in Yokosuka Japan. I came here in 2008 to work on a US Navy contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and, in 2009, had the part of the contract that I was working on deemed to be "purely Governmental in nature". Due to this, the job that I was filling on the CSC contract was cut from the follow-on bridge contract and, through a long and convoluted process, I was hired as a civil servant with the US Navy.
Up until the final two weeks, after beign reassured that everything was going to ok up to that point, being verbally told that I was approved, and seeing emails to NCTS-FE leadership showing my name on the list of people who had been reviewed and approved, I was suddenly denied LQA. LQA is currently ~$64,000 a year for a person, with family, in the Yokosuka area of Japan.
After being assured that, if I accepted, HRO would continue to process paperwork that I filed and try to help me sort though what happened, all communication stopped once HRO fulfilled their promise to ensure that we were "on board' before the CSC contract ran out and I lost my SOFA visa and authorization to stay in the country.
Due to the lack of response to my questions, I petitioned my Congressman, Congressman VanHollen, Maryland. Congressman VanHollen filed two Congressional inquiries on my behalf in an attempt to assist me, but in the end even the Congressman's office was unable to get satisfactory responses from the US Navy Office of Civilian Human Resources and suggested that I file a claim with OPM.
I eventually filed My Claim with OPM because the US Navy, after witholding information from me on my own status, reporting false information to Congressman VanHollen and myself, and repeatedly declining to answer my questions, told me that they would also no longer respond to me. OPM was the only route, outside the court system, that I could go to and now they also decline to provide answers to me.
The mission of OPM is "[t]o support the Federal government's ability to have the best workforce possible to do the best job possible". OPM states that they exist to "serve employing agencies, Federal employees, retirees, their families, and the public through technical assistance..."
With that in mind, I filed My LQA Claim With OPM, received OCHR's Response to My Claim, and submitted My Comments on their Response.
John Berry, director of OPM, has stated that OPM is "...excited about engaging further with our stakeholders - employees, unions, the public, academia, other agencies, and non-profit organizations - to create a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative Government" and I emailed him on 14 February concerning the lack of transparency that I have experienced, but have yet to receive a reply back.
I emailed the OPM Inspector General on 2 February with concerns over I have with several statements in the Decision along with comments made by Ms. Davis concerning her mistakenly sending me a "draft" version of the Decision, which was printed, signed, dated, rescanned into OPM systems, and then emailed out to several people, but I have also yet to receive a reply from his office.
I have a hard time asking for help, but don't know where to go or what to do now...
