Originally Posted by
DoomedTX
I hope the powers that be don't mind me resurrecting this 3 year old thread because it just became relevant to me. I retired 31 May and was surprised to see a $17k debt to the AF in my final active duty pay. Here's why I was surprised:
I'm looking at my original, signed ACP Agreement. According to it these are the conditions that would result in recouping ACP, word for word:
I was a passed-over major. In 2008 I accepted selective continuation to 20 and noticed a 31 May 2012 DOS was established for me in vMPF. In 2010 I was offered continuation until 24. I pondered it long and hard, using every day of the 60-day time period to decide. One of the factors was that the responsible officer at MPF told me very clearly my 31 May 2012 date was still a mandatory retirement and there would be no penalty for declining the additional continuation.
Surprise, surprise, I was given incorrect information by a government employee and now I am out $17k. They are saying my retirement was voluntary because I declined continuation until 24 and they are entitled to recoup. I think I might have a chance to fight it but don't know how to start to be honest. Any jailhouse lawyers out there want to add their 2 cents to what kind of chance I have?
It looks to me like either d) and/or f) would apply. Even without an opportunity to continue to 24, it looks like f) would trigger recoupment if an O-4 were to retire at 20 due to statutory limits, ie there's no way to game that system...the only way to keep the money is to keep serving. If you do not meet the service obligation then you don't get to keep the money. The statutory retirement clause seems harsh to me, but they were probably afraid of folks gaming the promotion system to non-select O-5, get forced retirement, and keep the outstanding bonus.
The one thing that was notable in it's absence is a clause about RIF's. Looks like if you got RIFed, you could keep the money.