DAA said:
As I have pretty much been "preaching" all along. Do not "wait" for them to come to you, you HAVE to go the them!!! This WILL be a "manual, hands on, hunt and peck" process.
So to put it bluntly, if I am the guy in the chair charged with managing the PON and you come to me on 16 Oct, after having received your pay statement well in advance, and now you find yourself short changed as a result of this.
Conversation will go something like this......"Sorry about that. So you should have received your pay statement over a week ago and you are just coming in now to question it? Here, let me provide you with a copy of QR&O 203.04 which will help make you feel better. In the mean time, we will set you up to protect for this and the recovery amount will be DFT'd to your bank account in 5-7 working days"........next customer!
Well, two things;
1) The actual amount is being taken off the end Oct pay. So, for example, if you normally take home 3600/month, or 1800 every pay period, and you have a $200 recovery from the MATA/PATA, your mid October pay will still be 1800, with your closing balance being $1600. So until they pay out mid Oct, and issue the end October pay statement, you won't know what it's going to be for sure due to the flux in their orders. Also, I did contact the OR, they basically said they haven't really gotten any direction on what is going on, so keep an eye on your pay, and let them know right away if the money is taken off, as they can't really do anything right now. Because this was done centrally, they are trying to avoid fixing it locally with a credit as people may get overpayed (again) if DMPAP cancels the initial deduction.
2) This isn't a situation where people were taking a benefit they weren't entitled to (ie collecting sea pay after a shore posting); this was a miscalculation on part of the pay system done centrally when figuring out the daily rate. If you were to question the rate of pay, you would be told to not question it, they are the SMEs. And it has been done this way for the last twelve years or so, so it's a systemic and long term error that cannot be realistically be attributed to the member, so (1) and (2) of QR&O 203.04 don't apply. If I were to get that kind of reply at the pay office, I think I would go from being polite (as it really wasn't their fault) to being pretty angry (for going to the pay office for a pay issue not of my own making and having an order I'm aware of thrown back at me).
It's not that I'm saying that money isn't owed back, but considering the circumstances, there really was no rush to get it back. This could have been handled a lot better, and been clearly communicated to allow people time to a) make sure the calculation is correct b) figure out how to pay it back in a reasonable time that doesn't mess with their finances.
As long as they've initiated the procedure to recover the money, the six year window doesn't suddenly close, as is clearly identified in both the act they cited as well as amplifying TB directives on overpayment recover procedures, so there wasn't the risk that they would be out of pocket. Also, they do have the option to write the whole thing off in the TB directive on recovering overpayments, which in my opinion, would probably be the best way to go given the complete clusterf**k they've made of it so far, as they've probably wasted more in staff time already then the recovery is worth.
I have no sympathy at all for folks that don't report extra sea pay or whatever and have to pay it back; but this is completely different. It's complete BS to tell people they are entitled to something, then try and claim it back after the fact because you miscounted your beans or misread the policy, which, to me, is a personal problem on the part of whoever authorized it. It's ridiculous that you can get hung for making a mistake anywhere else but when a SME on pay and benefits screws up, it's somehow the members faults?
[/end rant]
