A federal law has forced thousands of disabled veterans to return the separation incentives they received, throwing many into sudden hardship.
Vernon Reffitt got $30,000 to leave the Army in 1992. It was a one-time, lump-sum special separation benefit offered to service members when the U.S. had to reduce its active-duty force.
Now, more than 30 years later, the federal government wants that money back.
In May, the Department of Veterans Affairs began withholding the monthly disability compensation payments that Reffitt had been receiving for three decades until he repays the $30,000. It would take the 62-year-old nearly 15 years to do so.
“That’s wrong,” said Reffitt, who lives in Twin City, Georgia. “You can’t just up and take it back.”
Thousands have found themselves in Reffitt’s position due to a little-known law that prohibits veterans from receiving both disability and special separation pay. Under the law, the VA has to recoup special separation benefits from veterans before those eligible can begin receiving disability payments.
The law has forced at least 79,000 veterans to repay different types of separation benefits between 2013 and 2020, according to a study published in 2022 by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research group. The actual number of affected veterans is likely much higher because researchers were not able to access data prior to 2013 due to VA system changes, Stephanie Rennane, the study’s lead author, said.
R&I ~ MJM
239ArchStreet
Article URL : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/got-30k-leave-military-needed-downsize-now-government-wants-money-back-rcna158823