By Mr. Sean Hayes, PPC (mas) 12 Apr 2013
As a simple reminder: Please review the monthly LES' as they come to the SPO to ensure that your personnel are receiving accurate and reliable pay.
I have recently completed audits of personnel that were authorized DUAL OCOLA entitlements. I discovered that several personnel were over or underpaid due to JUMPS not properly updating the daily rate. Accurate and effective review of the monthly LES can avoid large discrepancies in pay for our members.
Since there are several variables that provide the appropriate payment for a member overseas, periodically reviewing DoD's entitlement website (http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/) would be helpful in this endeavor. Being off by just 5 cents, adds up quickly. For one member I reviewed, he was underpaid 5 cents per day for one year, then overpaid by 85 cents per day, resulting in nearly a $300 debt!
Another example is that I recently reviewed a report where there were 11 personnel that had 2 open SGLI (segment 32 in JUMPS) segments, resulting in double deductions. By law, PPC can only reimburse up to 2 months of erroneous deductions requiring PPC to request from COMDT authority to reimburse the additional monies due the member. One member on my report had infrequent deductions dating all the way back to January 2009, resulting in over $850 in erroneous deductions.
While it is ultimately the member's responsibility to ensure that their own pay is accurate, many members do not fully understand their authorized entitlements/benefits. It is up to you to help educate them and to help ensure that they are being paid accurately and timely.
Thanks, Sean Hayes