_______________________________ November 20, 1997 _______________________________ GSBCA 14293-TRAV In the Matter of LINDA LOVELACE Linda Lovelace, Madison, WI, Claimant. J. Patrick O'Toole, Director, Division of Travel Management, Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD, appearing for Social Security Administration. DeGRAFF, Board Judge. Statutes and regulations pertaining to reimbursement of travel expenses do not provide that an agency is responsible for paying either an overdraft charge assessed by a bank against an employee or a charge imposed against an employee by the payee of an insufficient funds check. An agency may reimburse an employee only for those expenses essential to the transaction of official business. An overdraft charge imposed by a bank and a charge imposed by the payee of an insufficient funds check are not essential to the transaction of official business, even if the lack of funds in the employee s bank account is caused by the agency s mistake in making a deposit. Background In mid-1997, Linda Lovelace, an employee of the Social Security Administration (SSA), was completing a long-term temporary duty assignment in Baltimore, Maryland. SSA permits employees who are completing long-term temporary duty assignments to have their salary payments electronically deposited into one account (the salary account), and their travel expense reimbursement payments electronically deposited into a second account (the travel account). Ms. Lovelace took advantage of this arrangement and, apparently, it worked well for approximately ten months. In July 1997, SSA mistakenly deposited Ms. Lovelace s travel payment into her salary account, instead of her travel account. Ms. Lovelace drafted a check on her travel account, expecting that SSA had deposited her travel payment into that account. Because SSA deposited Ms. Lovelace s travel payment into her salary account, there were insufficient funds in her travel account to cover the check she had written, and her bank charged her $25 for writing a check without having sufficient funds in her account to pay the check. In addition, she incurred $27.60 in dealing with her landlord over the bad check. Ms. Lovelace submitted a claim to SSA for $52.60. SSA is aware, and has tried to make its employees aware, that there are problems associated with having funds electronically deposited into two accounts. Banks can make mistakes in handling the payments, information used to route payments can be unclear, and SSA can make mistakes in directing the payments to the appropriate accounts. SSA s automated payment system is not designed to allow it to make electronic deposits into two accounts, and when an employee asks SSA to make an electronic deposit into an account other than the employee s salary account, SSA must accomplish this manually. Apparently, in Ms. Lovelace s case, an SSA employee made a mistake in manually directing a payment to her travel account. While SSA s view is that each employee is responsible for making sure that there are adequate funds in an account before writing a check on the account, SSA has written letters to banks explaining its mistakes. SSA is willing to write a letter to Ms. Lovelace s bank and to explain how the error occurred in her case. SSA denied Ms. Lovelace s claim because it was not aware of any authority that would allow it to reimburse Ms. Lovelace for the charges imposed by her bank and her landlord. Ms. Lovelace asks us to review SSA s decision. Discussion On several occasions, the General Accounting Office (GAO) considered whether an agency could reimburse military members and civilian employees for overdraft charges imposed by banks when agencies mistakenly failed to deposit salary payments into the accounts designated by the members or employees. In each case, GAO concluded that there was no authority to use Government funds to pay such charges. Rhonda M. Tiller, B-228632 (Mar. 10, 1988); Robert G. Raske, 60 Comp. Gen. 450 (1981); William B. Uppinghouse, B-187245 (Oct. 7, 1976); Jeffrey Allen Rossmann, B- 173783 (Mar. 2, 1976). Because the claims that GAO considered involved salary payments, and not travel payments, we looked to see whether there is any authority that would permit an agency to reimburse an employee for an overdraft charge or a charge imposed by the payee of an insufficient funds check when an agency misdirects a travel payment. We have been unable to find any authority that would permit SSA to pay Ms. Lovelace s claim. No statute or regulation pertaining to reimbursement of travel expenses provides that an agency is responsible for either an overdraft charge assessed by a bank or a charge assessed by the payee of an insufficient funds check. Travel expenses which will be reimbursed are limited to those expenses essential to the transaction of official business, 41 CFR 301-1.3(b) (1996), and the overdraft charge and the charges imposed by Ms. Lovelace s landlord were not essential to the transaction of any official business. Ms. Lovelace incurred charges because she wrote checks without having sufficient funds in her personal bank account to cover those checks. Maintaining a personal bank account is the employee's obligation. SSA correctly determined that there is no authority for using public funds to reimburse Ms. Lovelace. The claim is denied. SSA is willing to write a letter to Ms. Lovelace s bank to explain how the error occurred. Perhaps this will enable Ms. Lovelace to recoup her $52.60. ----------------------------- MARTHA H. DeGRAFF Board Judge