VA, DoD, DoJ Named in Reserve Back Pay Lawsuit
Federal civil servants serving as military reservists have filed a class-action complaint before the Merit Systems Protection Board. The reason? The plaintiffs want back pay from the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
They argue, according to Air Force Times, that “the reservists served on qualifying active duty during a declared national emergency and were not paid the difference between their civilian salary and military pay.”
VA, DoD, DoJ Named in Reserve Back Pay Lawsuit
The lawsuit demands payment to cover this income gap between military pay and federal civilian earnings for personnel mobilized during national emergencies, also known as a differential.
Under a 2009 federal law, civilian employees called to active duty qualify as members of the Guard or Reserve for differential pay to prevent reductions in household income. For years, the Office of Personnel Management applied guidelines requiring employees to demonstrate a connection between their military duties and the emergency.
Those federal standards led departments to deny differential pay to service members in multiple scenarios.
The Federal Government Stance
The federal government took the position that a reservist must show their military tasks relate to the national emergency. The government has denied differential pay to reservists assigned to domestic harbor patrol, maintenance, or training stateside. But the Supreme Court rejected that position.
In the case Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the law says service members qualify whenever a mobilization occurs during an active national emergency declaration, regardless of individual mission duties.
Why the Lawsuit is Happening
Federal attorneys told judges they would revise administrative policies following the Supreme Court decision. The current class-action complaint asserts that agencies failed to issue the updated rules or release back pay to affected employees.
Reservist differential pay was signed into law in 2009 to protect qualifying civilian employees of the federal government from a pay reduction if they serve in a reserve component and are called to federal service.
This is an ongoing story.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
