Monetary Settlement for Retroactive Promotion and Restoration to Active Military Service

An Army officer requested reconsideration of a decision concerning a monetary settlement as a result of action taken by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to nullify his retirement in 1974, retroactively promote him, and restore him to active military service. In the decision, it was concluded that the amount of earnings he received from civilian sources was deductible from the net amount of his active duty military backpay for the period of his invalid Army retirement. The officer questioned whether this deduction applied equally to regular as well as reserve officers and whether GAO was aware of the fact that he was a regular officer at the time of the decision. If the rule regarding deductions was applicable in his case, he questioned whether the deduction should be a limited setoff only against his military active duty backpay during the period of his civilian employment, rather than a general setoff against all his accrued backpay during the entire period of invalid retirement. GAO viewed the matter of the claimant's regular officer status as immaterial since the deduction requirement has been for general application in all cases involving service members retroactively restored to active duty, regardless of rank, status, or branch of service. The interim civilian earnings were for setoff against all of the military active duty backpay due to the claimant for the entire period of his invalid retirement, notwithstanding that he might have been unemployed during a portion of that period. As his letter contained no new material evidence or information which could properly serve as a basis for altering or revising the settlement of his legal claims, GAO had no basis for amending its decision. An application was granted for a waiver for accrued leave payments required to be collected in the settlement but for which, due to the statutory leave limit, days of leave could not be restored.