US Navy personnel walk on the flight deck aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) aircraft carrier during its port visit to Busan on March 28, 2023, | The government is attempting to recover roughly $7 million from more than 1,200 retired Navy members due to a system error that gave them higher monthly benefits for almost four years.
The government is reportedly trying to reclaim almost $7 million from more than 1,200 retired Navy personnel, officials announced on Monday, May 15. This is because of a system mistake that resulted in those individuals receiving greater monthly payouts than they were entitled to receive for nearly four years.
An Administrative Lapse Impacting Navy Retirees
The Navy Times was the first to reveal the blunder, which affected 1,283 retirees from August 2019 through February this year and led to inaccurate service time estimates.
NBC News has learned that the total debt caused by this mistake is about $6.8 million. According to Monday's report from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), individual debts may total anything from $35 to over $70,000.
Those impacted retirees will get formal debt letters this week with instructions on how to settle the debt or seek a waiver from the organization that controls payments to Defense Department staff and retirees.
Some retirees are expecting bills in the thousands. The rectified mistake has resulted in a decrease in the monthly retirement income for everyone affected.
Before his retirement in 2021, 52-year-old Devin Morrison served as the executive officer of the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. "It's a double whammy," he remarked. "I'm going to be saddled with this pretty significant bill through no fault of my own," he added.
From March to April, his take-home earnings dropped by around $762. Even though he has not gotten the formal debt notice yet, he figures he will have to fork out around $30,000.
How Did This Happen?
The Navy had said that the problem originated when the DFAS received erroneous data from the Navy's personnel system.
Payments to the retirees were inflated because their inactive reserve service time was wrongly classified as active-duty creditable service. From there, the Navy conducted extensive research to pinpoint the impacted population and formulate a plan of action.
"This process took time and was important to ensure we did not negatively affect someone's pay without understanding the scope of the issue," Cmdr. Rick Chernitzer, the spokesperson for Navy Personnel Command, stated.
According to DFAS, the typical overpayment is $2,700. The letter promised to spell out the specifics of when interest will be applied to the outstanding balance.
In the absence of a response from the retiree, the government agency has the right to automatically take out 15% of the retiree's net disposable pay from their monthly pension. In addition, the document said that the Defense Department "retains the right to pursue other collection methods, as necessary."
