Thread: SEVERANCE PAY RECOUP, AND THE V.A

I RECENTLY RECIEVE MY RETIREMENT THRU THE PDBR, RETRO TO 2005, ORIGINALLY I WAS SEPERATED BACK IN 2004 WITH 20% AND SEVERANCE PAY OF $32000, THE SEVERANCE PAY WAS FULLY RECOUP BY THE VA., WHICH LED ME TO BEEN HOMELESS, LAST MONT I DECIDE TO RECOUP THE SEVERANCE PAY FROM THE V.A BECAUSE I WAS RETIRED BY THE PDBR, ALL MY INJURIES IS COMBAT RELATED, (IRAQ)PTSD ETC. SO I WROTE UP THE REQUEST AND SENT ALL THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS TO THE V.A REGIONAL OFFICE IN FLORIDA(MYSTATE) AND DECIDEM TO WAIT ON MY MONEY($32000) WELL THE V.A WROTE ME BACK AFTER A MONTH, SAYING THAT PUBLIC LAW 110-181 AND THE CORRESPONDING VA REGULATION 38CFR 3.7(A)(3) THAT ALLOWS FOR RECIEPT OF DISABILITY SEVERANCE PAY AWARDED FOR QUALIFING COMBAT RELATED CONDIDTIONS EFFECTIVE JANAUARY 28, 2008 ABD SINCE I WAS SEPERATED PRIOR TO THAT DAY OF THIS LAW, I AM NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REIMBURSTMENT OF MY DISABILITY SEVERANCE PAY. NOW THIS IS PLAIN BULL....,SOME VETERANS WHO SERVE IN THE SAME WAR IRAQ, OR AFGANISTHAN GET TO RECOUP THIER SEVERANCE PAY IF THEY RECIEVE ONE ON JANUARY 29 OF 2008 UNTIL NOW, BUT THE OTHER VETERANS WHO RECIEVE IT BEFORE HAS TO TAKE A LOST, WE DIDI NOT ASK TO GO TO IRAQ, OR AFGANISTHAN, NOR DID WE(COMBAT VETERANS) ASK TO BE HURT IN THE COMBAT ZONE, WHO PUT THIS LAW INTO PLACE? THIS IS NOT RIGHT, MY WIFE MIS FLIPPING OUT AS I WRITE THIS ON THE SITE, I KNOW I AM NOT THE ONLY VETERAN WITH THIS PROBLEM, BUT SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO CHANGE THIS CRAP FOR LAW,IN MYCASE THE ONLY THING I GOT WAS 20% SEPERATION AND A BOOT IN MY BEHIND FROM THE ARMY, NOTHING ELSE, I AM IN THE PROCESS OF CONTACTING MY STATE SENATOR AND WHO EVER SO THEY CAN OVERTHROW THIS STUPID BULL.... LAW AND TREAT ALLM OF US IRAQ AND AFGANISTHAN COMBAT INJURIED VETERANS THE SAME,DOES ANY ONE HAS ANY IDEA WHERE TO GO FROM HERE JASON? OR WHO EVER?

I would need to look at what the VA said to give an opinion, but based on what you said, I think they are wrong and are due the money. I will be unavailable until tomorrow afternoon, so either PM me in the meantime or I will check back here tomorrow.

In response Jason, this is what the letter from the VA states: concerning the recoupment of your disability severance pay, following your release from active duty and the changes to the recoupment procedures for severance pay awarded for qualifying combat related conditions.

WHAT THEY DECIDED - VA: Public Law 110-181 and the corresponding VA Regulation 38 CFR 3.700(a)(3) allow for concurrent receipt of VA compensation and disability severance pay awarded for qualifying combat related conditions effective January 28, 2008. Since you were seperated with severance pay prior to the effective date of this law you are not eligible for reimbursement of your disability severance pay.

This is word for word from the VA letter dated June 21, 2010.

does any veteran who was seperated with severance pay by the military, and who was awarded a retirement thru the pdbr have any problems recouping the severance pay from the dept of veteran affairs, that the v.a took back? i would like to know because i am having a very hard time getting the severance pay which the v.a recoup from me, now they(the va) is telling me that i cant recoup the severance money, that they took from me for almost three years, because i dont qualify, this they(the va) said, is base on some new public law dated january 2008, to me thats a bunch of crap, i pm jason but i guess he is busy and he has not reply to me as yet, if any veteran has this problem, and know how to go about socking it to the va on this topic, please let me know,

Did you receive retirement back pay dating back to 2005?

yep, but that still dont answer the question of the severance pay issue that was recoup by the v.a. and now they(the v a) are saying some law thats call a public law that was place in to law jan 2008 make me not ineligibly to recoup the severance pay$32000 that the v.a took from me, the lousydisabilty retirement pay that i am recieving from the csrc dept is not even $500 per month,i know some of the guys i serve with in iraq and who was seperated with severance pay got it all back from the v.a, this is abattle i intend to fight and win eventually, i feel violated by the army and the v.a, some veterans are eligibly to recoup the severance pay, while others are not, yet we all fight in the same wars in iraq and afganisthan, and got injuried during combat, something is very much wrong with the big picture here

hey jason i am still waiting on your response, i pm you and still did not hear from you.

gelnhausen,

Sorry for the delay. I will give my comments on what the VA said to you. It is hard to understand, because I think they are confusing the law with the facts, both current and past, in your case.

Tell me if I misstate a fact. It may well change the analysis.

What happened:
2004- You were separated with 20%, the VA recouped in full, your $32000 in severance pay.

2010- The PDBR corrected your records to show you were retired in 2005 (what I am unclear about is the variance between the 2004 separation and the retro retirement to 2005...why the difference?...Did you have additional leave that you took that made your separation date later?).

What should happen-

Your correction of records should have resulted in the following:

1) Restoration of the $32,000 subject to the following;
2) The DoD should calculate your due retired pay, taking into account offset of VA monies actually received.
3) There should be an offset based on retired pay. This may or may not be the same amount of the $32,000.
4) If you had 20 years or more of service OR your conditions were combat related, this should qualify you to either/or CRDP or CRSC. This may mean a reduction in the offset from 3), above. You indicated that this was roughly $500. It seems to me that they should calculate your CRSC from the effective date of retirement (2005), if you had 20 years or more of service, or from 2008, if you did not.

The citation to the Public Law (which is the 2008 NDAA) and the CFR (which is wrong, I am pretty sure they meant 38 CFR 3.700 (A)(3)) is confusing. I think they think you are asking for return of recoupment of severance pay due to this part of the CFR that I cited above:

"For members of the Armed Forces who separated under Chapter 61 of title 10, United States Code, on or after January 28, 2008, no recoupment of severance pay will be made for disabilities incurred in line of duty in a combat zone or incurred during performance of duty in combat-related operations as designated by the Department of Defense. (Authority: 10 U.S.C. 1174(h)(2) and 1212(d))."

They would be right if you were asking them not to recoup severance pay based on the 2004 separation. You are not (or should not be). You should be asking for return of wrongly recouped money because you were not, by virtue of the action of the PDBR, separated. The CRSC is a separate matter. The calculations can be confusing, but I think that they are not even looking at the right issue, so any determination is meaningless.

Remember, this is just my estimate of the situation and may not be accurate based on facts that I may not be aware of. Hope this helps.

gelnhausen...what unit did u serve with????

the 196 trans, army reserve, was attached to the 101, who at the time was base in mosul iraq