Severance pay question.

M

Mathew Wilson

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PEB Forum Veteran
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So I have been wondering for a while now, ever since I first heard of it, Why exactly do you have to pay back or severance if you are not medicaly retired.

and Do they take ALL of the VA disability pay, or Just a percentage for the Injury that the Army and VA both agree too?

for instance my Hip. I haven't got percentages back so IDK,
but lets say the army give me...0%.. or 10%. and the va gives me 10% for my hip, but 50% overall.
and I get severance lets say 5000$
with repaying the Severance, is it just that 10% minus from the Va 50% or is it the TOTAL VA 50%?

Also heard another thing, I CANNOT refuse severance pay?? I was told that I cannot refuse it, and Must pay it back.. wtf is that?
 
I don't know what formula they use, but my severance was $29000 and my rating is 30% from the VA with $469 a month payments. Since I have to repay my severance, they take $251 and give me $218 until 2019, then I get the full $469. I hope this helps.
 
well if they aren't taking all of yours, then I guess some of what I heard is right.
 
sucks lol, It's not a fair trade, Completely messed up right hip for a possible 12,000$ before taxes for me.. ( E4, 3yrs in ) I'd rather have No severance and just stay in the army doing a paperwork job like all other broke people
 
jlgale said:
If the Army gives you 0% then you dont have to repay it
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As long as the VA doesn't assign a percentage, or 0%, then no recoupment. However, if the VA does in fact assign a percentage for your "unfitting" conditions, money will be recouped unless combat related.
 
My husband asked his peblo about this and she said they'll take all of the monthly Va check until the severance pay is paid back. I read somewhere on here they just take a percentage(depends on what your rating is for the condition).
After she told him this we are definitely confused on how it works.
 
I agree with you. The information I have received on here is conflicting what my VSO (veteran service officer) says. Hope he is wrong and everyone here is right. But, if he is wrong...and he has been doing this for years...what does it really say about the services receieved at this level? I should find out by DEC 1st. I will try to let you know how mine goes. I am at 10% DOD, 90% VA.
 
Federal law says you can't be paid twice for the same disability: the VA comp and the severance are considered "for the same disability" if your severance was for condition x and the VA rates you for condition x. No VA rating, no recoupment. I know, it's rediculous. To me, the severance was a loan. However, they did not keep all VA comp. The formula is somewhat complicated, but they take a percentage based on your disability for the condition for which you were discharged.
 
severance is the armies 1 time payment for an INJURY? that is total BS. as far as I knew Severance was because you are being forcefully terminated from the service against your will, and not UCMJ, I know someone who was Offered a severance pay type of deal just to Terminate his contract early! During his PCS from korea they offered : pcs to Fort XXX or take XXX amount of money and terminate contract. what is that?
 
also since when is an Injury that will be affecting you the rest of your life only worth x2 base pay X yrs in... in the real world people get 10 times as much money for 10 times less severe of an injury
 
perfect example, my grandma got like 250,000$ for slipping and breaking her Knee in home depot.. But I break my hip, Have a tendon completely cut and removed, a labram torn in half, part of my bone shaved off, and I can't even walk right anymore, and I get like 14k BEFORE taxes..
 
Mathew Wilson said:
perfect example, my grandma got like 250,000$ for slipping and breaking her Knee in home depot.. But I break my hip, Have a tendon completely cut and removed, a labram torn in half, part of my bone shaved off, and I can't even walk right anymore, and I get like 14k BEFORE taxes..
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That's where proving the severity of an injury comes into play. A medical retirement or a high VA rating could surpass 250k quite quickly. It's not a perfect situation, but just think of how many people are injured or sick from a work related environment and aren't entitled to a cent in compensation. If I had all the medical conditions you described you'd better believe I would have hired a good lawyer from the beginning to ensure a strong and fair case. Even if I was awarded severance I would ride it all the way through federal court.
 
Mathew Wilson said:
also since when is an Injury that will be affecting you the rest of your life only worth x2 base pay X yrs in... in the real world people get 10 times as much money for 10 times less severe of an injury
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Hey, thought I'd chime in too on this.

When the DoD only rates you at 0%,10%, or 20% and gives you severance pay for your "unfit for service" condition(s), and, provided the VA rated you higher than the DoD, you will still receive monthly compensation from the VA for the rest of your life.

So, compared to your grandma getting lump sum of $250k, you at your example of 50% VA (let's say $800/month or $8,000/year for argument's sake) and you live at least another 50 years. You're looking at roughly $480,000, TAX-FREE, in compensation albeit its throughout your lifetime.

Aside from cash compensation, you will at the very least have whatever service-connected injuries treated by the VA for free, for the rest of your life.
 
So if the army gives you medical Retirement, What is the point of the va then? other then to just pay you I guess? I really think the medical retirement/severance pay as only options are really dumb and doesn't make sense..
 
Mathew Wilson said:
So if the army gives you medical Retirement, What is the point of the va then? other then to just pay you I guess? I really think the medical retirement/severance pay as only options are really dumb and doesn't make sense..
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You receive your VA compensation or your DoD compensation; whichever is higher. However, if entitled to CRSC or CRDP you can receive both. In the event your DoD pay is higher, you are only taxed on the money greater than your VA compensation; i.e. DoD pays 3000/month. VA pays 2000 /month. 3000-2000= 1000 taxed and 2000 non-taxed.

VA compensation is a great benefit. If you're medically retired you maintain Tricare for life which is huge as well.
 
Whether or not you get retired from the DoD, you still receive some compensation from the VA for life.

Lets say the DoD rates you at 30% and the va rates you at 50% - you are medically retired from the DoD and receive Tricare for life which is a huge benefit in itself. (pittpan2005)

In this case, the VA will pay you the 50% rate, minus the 30% rate - (with variables excluded llike having a spouse and/or children) the VA will be paying you roughly $800/month minus the 30% rate of roughly $400/month, which is roughly $4800/year for the rest of your life, tax free.

This is my understanding of DoD/VA Compensation at its most basic level.

Add what pittpan said as well.

Now the VA also offers other assistance for veterans like employment assistance, voc-rehab, home loans, other educational assistance. If you are (I think its) at least 30% disabled by the VA side of the house, you rate disabled veteran preference points which, from my understanding as I haven't yet achieved veteran status, help place you in a position to apply for non-competitive federal/local government agencies and possibly other (civilian/vet friendly) jobs.

Check out www.va.gov to see what they do besides disability compensation. And check out the "Quick Start Guide" from turbotap.org
 
As far as CRSC goes, when do you apply for that? After you get out? Also how would it effect your compensation? On the DOD side of the house 3 of my unfitting conditions have the combat related identifier.
 
Mathew Wilson said:
So I have been wondering for a while now, ever since I first heard of it, Why exactly do you have to pay back or severance if you are not medicaly retired.

and Do they take ALL of the VA disability pay, or Just a percentage for the Injury that the Army and VA both agree too?

for instance my Hip. I haven't got percentages back so IDK,
but lets say the army give me...0%.. or 10%. and the va gives me 10% for my hip, but 50% overall.
and I get severance lets say 5000$
with repaying the Severance, is it just that 10% minus from the Va 50% or is it the TOTAL VA 50%?

Also heard another thing, I CANNOT refuse severance pay?? I was told that I cannot refuse it, and Must pay it back.. wtf is that?
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You are correct; your NOT able to refuse severance pay. There are other routes you can take though. When you receive your severance paycheck dont spend it. Take the money from the severance and give it back, that way you can collect your full VA percentage every month. Thats what I plan on doing. Also how it works is you have 2 options.

Lets say you receive 15,000 severance pay and your ratings are:
DOD 10%/VA 50%

You can either pay all 50% of your VA pay back toward the $15,000 until it is completley paid off, or pay 10% back towards the 50%.

If you choose the first option you wont receive a disability paycheck until you have paid off the $15,000.
If you choose the 2nd option you will receive only a 40% paycheck everymonth, then once the severance is paid back you will start collecting your full 50%.

I reccommend not touching the Severance, paying it back towards what you owe, and then option one to pay back whatever else you will owe due to them taking it in taxes.

You find out your severance pay with this formula:

Base Pay X 2 X Number of years in service.


*If you have less than 3 years in service you will put 3 for your years of service. I hope this helps. Good Luck.
 
Finding an old severance pay work sheet look, which stated that severance was around $4621 and only receiving $1790 when discharged, why would you have to pay the full amount when the calculations now look so screwy.
 
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