§92.11. Demand for payment. — Inbound Citations

The Department may accept late requests for a hearing if the employee can show that delay in requesting a hearing beyond the period provided in the notice described in § 92.11 of this part was caused by circumstances beyond his or her control or because of failure to receive notice of the time limit (unless he or she was otherwise aware of it) or because of new information.

(a) After other, less severe collection actions have failed, the DOT operating element (see § 92.5(g)) may implement steps to obtain collection by salary offset. The method and the amount of the salary offset shall be the method and amount stated in the creditor agency's demand letter (see § 92.11) or notice (see § 92.7), or, if applicable, in the decision of an administrative law judge or other hearing official after an employee-requested hearing on the matter. If a DOT operating element is the creditor, the procedures stated in § 92.11 shall be followed.

(1) Where the DOT operating element is the creditor agency and another agency is the paying agency, the chief of the accounting of finance office of the appropriate DOT operating element (see § 92.5(g)) shall complete and certify the “Debt Claim Form” (see Attachment 1), and attach a copy of the demand letter sent to the employee pursuant to § 92.11 with a statement of the employee's response thereto, or, if a hearing was held pursuant to § 92.13, attach a copy of the decision of the administrative law judge or other hearing official. The DOT creditor operating element shall certify that the employee owes the debt, the amount and basis of the debt, the date on which payment is due, the date the Government's right to collect the debt accrued, and that the Departmental regulations implementing 5 U.S.C. 5514 have been approved by the Office of Personnel Management.

(a) Except as provided in § 92.9 of this part, each employee from whom the department proposes to offset a debt against the Federal pay of an employee who is indebted to the United States under a program administrated by DOT under these regulations is entitled to receive a minimum of 30 days written notice as described in § 92.11 of this part (see also § 92.21(a)).

(b) In the event that a retroactive deduction from pay or allowances is required to recover an insufficiency of deductions arising through normal processing delays, and those insufficient deductions did not occur in more than four pay periods, rather than following the specific procedures required by 5 U.S.C. 5514(a)(2), and set forth in §§ 92.11 through 92.17 of this part, the DOT creditor operating element shall issue in advance of the collection a simplified notice to the employee that:

(1) Because of the employee's election for changes in voluntary payroll deduction, corresponding deductions shall be imposed on the employee's salary to cover the period between the effective date of the election and the first regular withholding. The employee may dispute the amount of the retroactive collection by notifying his or her accounting or finance officer; or

(2) Due to a normal ministerial adjustment in pay or allowances which could not be placed into effect immediately, future pay will be reduced to permit the DOT creditor operating element to recover any excess pay or allowances received by the employee. The employee may dispute the amount of the retroactive collection by notifying his or her accounting or finance officer.

(a) A debt shall be collected in a lump sum or by installment deductions at officially established pay intervals from an employee's current pay account, unless the employee and the DOT operating element agree to alternative arrangements for payment (see § 92.11(b)(9) describing such voluntary repayment arrangements). The alternative arrangement shall be in writing, signed by both the employee and the chief of the appropriate accounting or finance office, and shall be documented in the DOT operating element's files.