meni0n said:
Isn't the fact that he has to pay back 3500$ proof enough that he was given IPC 3 and was just told at the RC that that's what he's getting. Given that's it's not him that made the mistake, go see the clerks and tell them not to take it all at the same time but pay it back in installments you're comfortable with.
That's not quite how it works. CFAO 203-3 is still the extant regulation (notwithstanding some of the details with respect to
CHQ directorates are out of date). The CO has to approve recovery over a six month period. Recovery over a period beyond six months needs to be approved by the Director Military Pay Accounts Processing (DMPAP). If you received the overpayment, for example, over a two year period, you should be able to pay it back over a two year period (although if you get promoted in the meantime, they may want you to pay it back faster). The Pay Office cannot approve anything, but they should be able to help you start the process.
Having said that, a grievance may well be worth your while. If you received something in good faith, you may be able to keep it. I once worked on a case where the "system" discovered it had incorrectly commissioned an officer (CFR vice former service as an NCM) who was clearly (in retrospect) ineligible for CFR. When the "system" discovered the mistake (some three years after the fact), the officer in question simply received an email from HQ informing her they were going to recover approximately $5000 from her pay. In short, everything went wrong. As her supervisor, I stepped in, put the brakes on the recovery and then engaged the chain of command. I gained the full support of the chain of command (right up to the CMS) and notwithstanding that a mistake had been made in the commissioning process, no recovery was made and the indivdual did not have to pay anything back and we have all of this in writing.
Rather than start with a grievance; however, I would start by engaging your divisional system. You are entitled to an assisting officer to help prepare your case. I recommend you find yourself a good LogO with experience in pay to help you. The Pay Office may even be able to help you on this (at least they should). The Pay Office should not be treating you as an adversary. The gist of your argument is this:
1) You were made an offer which you accepted
in good faith (hopefully, you've kept written evidence of this);
2) you made decisions based on this offer;
3) you had no reason to believe the offer was invalid;
4) you did not misrepresent yourself in any way to cause them to make an invalid offer (I assume this is true?);
5) you have fully lived up to the terms of the agreement, including accepting the higher level of responsibility expected of an AB (vice an OS); and
6) to retroactively rescind an offer which you accepted in good faith is fundamentally unfair, particularly as you cannot be reimbursed for the level of responsibility you accepted as a result of your higher placement.*
*Admittedly, this may be a bit far-fetched in the case of an AB vs OS, but this argument did work in my other case where they wanted to retroactively revert a Lt(N) to a SLT.
Having said all of the above, you may not ultimately be successful. However, by starting this process, you will at the very least avoid an immediate recovery and you may ultimately win. The only way to guarantee that you won't win is to never try. Just remember to remain calm, state the facts and present your arguments clearly and objectively. And remember to get yourself a good assisting officer who can basically be anyone of your choice (within reason, but try to avoid the young SLt under training who needs experience as an assisting officer). He/she doesn't even need to be a member of your unit.
Good luck.
