Army, Air Force sending retroactive stop-loss pay claims to DFAS again
Published: January 15, 2010
The Army and Air Force are moving retroactive stop-loss pay claims again.
The process came to a screeching halt last month when Congress passed legislation at the behest of the Army that disqualified troops who received a re-enlistment or retention bonus while stop-lossed from getting retroactive stop-loss pay.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service returned about 2,400 claims to the Army, which had to figure out if any of the claimants no longer qualified.
Earlier this week, the Army sent about 1,800 of those claims back to DFAS for final processing, said Maj. Roy Whitley, project manager for the compensation program.
Of the remaining 600 claims, about 400 belong to National Guard and Reserve soldiers, which are being held until Whitley can verify which received a bonus while stop-lossed.
The number of reserve component troops who received bonuses is much lower than that of active-duty soldiers, so officials are double-checking the numbers, Whitley said.
“They just want to confirm that they didn’t miss a group of people or something,” he said.
He hopes the National Guard and Reserve claims should go to DFAS early next week, he said.
The roughly 200 remaining claimants who had been told their claims had been approved prior to the new legislation taking effect but now no longer qualify will get an e-mail from the Army soon, Whitley said.
The Air Force also resumed sending claims to DFAS this week, said Kenneth Pruitt, a spokesman for the Air Force Personnel Center. No further information was avialable Friday.
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