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Rules on retro stop-loss pay detailed in bill

Payment of retroactive stop-loss allowances will require current and former service members to file applications with the Defense Department under procedures outlined in the legislation that authorizes the payments.

Under an agreement expected to come to a final vote this week, service members who were under stop-loss orders between Sept. 10, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2008, are eligible for $500 per month in back pay for each month in which their separation or retirement was delayed. About 185,000 people are expected to qualify.

Retroactive stop-loss allowance payments are included in HR 2346, the supplemental appropriations act for 2009, which is expected to get a final vote Tuesday in the House of Representatives and a final Senate vote by week’s end.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., one of the lawmakers working to get extra pay for those affected by stop loss, had been disappointed last year when Congress approved the $500 payments only for people under stop loss orders since Oct. 1, 2008.

“Troops who risk their lives beyond their scheduled enlistment deserve to be rewarded for their sacrifice and commitment,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “These bonuses are the least we can do for service members kept from their families because of a stop-loss policy that was abused in the past and will soon be eliminated.”

The stop-loss provision gives the Defense Department 120 days from when the bill is signed into law to come up with an application process. People affected by stop-loss would have one year from the date application rules are published to file claims to receive payments. The provision strictly prohibits paying any late claims.

There is no requirement for the Defense Department nor the military services to track down former service members who had been under stop-loss orders but have since left the military, although military officials told Congress they would attempt to contact people who got out of the military at their last known address.

The $500 allowance will be paid for each month or any portion of a month in which someone was held on active-duty by stop loss orders.

In instances where a service member under stop-loss orders has died, payments will go to his or her survivors.

No payments will be given to anyone discharged or released under less than honorable conditions.