B-238125, Feb 1, 1991, Office of General Counsel
Highlights
Military Personnel - Pay - Reenlistment bonuses - Computation DIGEST: When a service member who has qualified for a Selective Reenlistment Bonus is selected to participate in a program leading to a commission. Entitlement to additional unpaid bonus is suspended and terminates upon commissioning. States that the purpose of the law is to encourage enlistments and reenlistments to fill critical military specialties. Not from reduction where the circumstances on which such pay allowances were based change. Since military pay and allowances are governed by law and regulations. The Claim's Group determination is affirmed.
B-238125, Feb 1, 1991, Office of General Counsel
Military Personnel - Pay - Reenlistment bonuses - Computation DIGEST: When a service member who has qualified for a Selective Reenlistment Bonus is selected to participate in a program leading to a commission, entitlement to additional unpaid bonus is suspended and terminates upon commissioning.
LTJG William J. Pickett:
This responds to your appeal of our Claims Group's denial of your claim for the last four installments of your Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB).
Upon review of the record, we find no error of law or fact in the Claims Group's determination. As the Claims Group points out, the legislative history of 37 U.S.C. Sec. 308, as amended, states that the purpose of the law is to encourage enlistments and reenlistments to fill critical military specialties. See House Report No. 857, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. ***, reprinted in 1974 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News 2984, 2985. The "saved pay" provisions of 14 U.S.C. Sec. 214 protect a member from reduction in pay rates and allowances due to temporary promotion to a higher grade, but not from reduction where the circumstances on which such pay allowances were based change-- in your case, leaving the specialty in issue. 48 Comp.Gen. 12 (1968). Finally, the fact that you remained in the Coast Guard for 6 years does not in itself obligate the government to continue the SRB for the full time based on contract principles, since military pay and allowances are governed by law and regulations, not by contract principles.
Accordingly, the Claim's Group determination is affirmed.