Big Back Pay Boost for RCs

The federal Merit Systems Protection Board decided in July that certain Reserve and Guard members who were also government employees may file back-pay claims for military leave back to Oct. 1, 1994. The issue started with a 2003 court ruling that most of those individuals who took military leave from federal jobs before Dec. 2000 had lost leave days and were eligible for back pay. The Office of Personnel Management, however, limited eligibility to only six years. Thus a reservist who filed a claim this month would have been eligible for pay lost only from Aug. 1999 to Dec. 2000. Moving the eligibility date back to 1994 will affect some 100,000 Reserve Component members who could be eligible for as much as 24 days of back pay.