§ 2418.19 - How do other Federal agencies use the offset process to collect debts from payments issued by the FLRA?

§ 2418.19 How do other Federal agencies use the offset process to collect debts from payments issued by the FLRA?

(a) Offset of FLRA payments to collect debts owed to other Federal agencies.

(1) In most cases, Federal agencies submit eligible debts to the Treasury Offset Program to collect delinquent debts from payments issued by the FLRA and other Federal agencies, a process known as “centralized offset.” When centralized offset is not available or appropriate, any Federal agency may ask the FLRA (when acting as a “payment agency”) to collect a debt owed to such agency by offsetting funds payable to a debtor by the FLRA, including salary payments issued to FLRA employees. This section and § 2418.20 apply when a Federal agency asks the FLRA to offset a payment issued by the FLRA to a person who owes a debt to the United States.

(2) This subpart does not apply to FLRA debts. See §§ 2418.10 through 2418.12 for offset procedures applicable to FLRA debts.

(3) This subpart does not apply to the collection of non-FLRA debts through tax refund offset. See 31 CFR 285.2 for tax-refund-offset procedures.

(b) Administrative offset (including salary offset); certification. The FLRA will initiate a requested offset only upon receipt of written certification from the creditor agency that the debtor owes the past-due, legally enforceable debt in the amount stated, and that the creditor agency has fully complied with all applicable due-process and other requirements contained in 31 U.S.C. 3716, 5 U.S.C. 5514, and the creditor agency's regulations, as applicable. Offsets will continue until the debt is paid in full or otherwise resolved to the satisfaction of the creditor agency.

(c) Where a creditor agency makes requests for offset. Requests for offset under this section shall be sent to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, ATTN: Office of the Executive Director, 1400 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20424.

(d) Incomplete certification. The FLRA will return an incomplete debt certification to the creditor agency with notice that the creditor agency must comply with paragraph (b) of this section before action will be taken to collect a debt from a payment issued by the FLRA.

(e) Review. The FLRA is not authorized to review the merits of the creditor agency's determination with respect to the amount or validity of the debt certified by the creditor agency.

(f) When the FLRA will not comply with offset request. The FLRA will comply with the offset request of another agency unless the FLRA determines that the offset would not be in the best interests of the United States, or would otherwise be contrary to law.

(g) Multiple debts. When two or more creditor agencies are seeking offsets from payments made to the same person, or when two or more debts are owed to a single creditor agency, the FLRA may determine the order in which the debts will be collected or whether one or more debts should be collected by offset simultaneously.

(h) Priority of debts owed to FLRA. For purposes of this section, debts owed to the FLRA generally take precedence over debts owed to other agencies. The FLRA may determine whether to pay debts owed to other agencies before paying a debt owed to the FLRA. The FLRA will determine the order in which the debts will be collected based on the best interests of the United States.