Troops confused by mid-month pay statement
Published: April 11, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Troops and Defense Department civilians who looked online at their Leave and Earning Statement on Friday thought they had received half their usual paycheck, but they will actually get their full pay and benefits on April 15, as scheduled, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.
On Friday, DFAS issued mid-month statements that showed how much people would get paid if lawmakers failed to agree on a budget, leading to a government shutdown, said DFAS spokesman Thomas LaRock. The shutdown was averted, but when some saw those statements, they thought they were only getting paid for one week, so DFAS blocked access to the statement on myPay, the DFAS website that allows users to check their finances online.
DFAS has since allowed troops and civilians to view their statements online again, but it has not yet posted statements showing that they will be paid in full, LaRock said in an email. Still, everyone should be paid on Friday as usual.
“All military and reservists will receive full pay on April 15 for duty served April 1-15,” LaRock said. “There will be more than one deposit into their accounts, but again, all payments will be deposited on April 15. Members should check with their banks to confirm the amount deposited.
“Civilians will receive full pay and benefits. Theirs will be normal deposit (i.e. just one deposit). This is because the current pay period ended this past Saturday, so because we had a new [Continuing Resolution Authority] before their pay was run through the system, it was able to follow normal process and wasn’t split into two payments.”
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday that troops and civilian employees should pay closer attention to their next statement.
“Just because of these perturbations, everyone should make sure to go over their LES and make sure they received the correct amount due,” he said.
