Request for Reconsideration

An Army officer requested reconsideration of a decision to grant only part of his application for an equitable adjustment of a monetary settlement incident to his retroactive promotion and restoration to active duty in the Army Reserve. The claimant was involuntarily separated from active service but was retroactively restored under the statute authorizing the correction of military records. The officer was credited with retroactive duty military backpay subject to various offsets including erroneous lump-sum leave payments, readjustment pay, and his interim civilian earnings. The officer contended that he also should have been compensated for additional expenses he incurred as a civilian. He also objected to the recoupment of readjustment pay and the deduction of interim civilian earnings in the settlement. After the claims settlement is concluded, the member may apply for an equitable adjustment by requesting waiver of erroneous severance payments appearing as debits in the settlement, so as to prevent the member from returning to active duty with a net indebtedness to the Government. The claimant in the subject case did not return to active duty with debts owed to the Government but rather with a payment made to him. Since the officer could not receive a restoration of his entitled leave time, the settlement was adjusted to waive collection of the erroneous lump-sum leave payment shown as a debit in the settlement, resulting in a further payment to the officer. The officer's application for an additional waiver of expenses he incurred after his separation could not be paid under the records correction statute. Thus, the officer received all of the equitable relief he was entitled to under the statute. Accordingly, the previous settlement action was sustained.