Final settlement on discharge: what is due and how to obtain it

What is happening

Discharge is the point at which the unit's debts to a serviceman should all be closed. In practice that is exactly when it emerges that some allowances were never credited, the bonus is said not to be due, and leave days have been counted differently from your own reckoning.

The second common pattern concerns the lump sum benefit on discharge. Its size depends on length of service and on the ground of discharge, and a serviceman is sometimes discharged on a wording under which the benefit is smaller or not payable at all. The dispute then covers both the calculation and the wording of the order itself.

Removal from the unit roll stands apart. A serviceman may not be removed from the roll until the settlement has been made in full, and this is one of the most frequent reasons why military courts restore people to the roll and order the shortfall to be paid.

What the law says

• The composition of service pay and the order of payments on discharge are set by the law on service pay (Federal Law 306-FZ).
• The lump sum benefit on discharge depends on total length of military service and on the ground of discharge stated in the order.
• Unused main and additional leave is compensated in money on discharge, or the leave is granted before the date of removal from the roll.
• A serviceman may not be removed from the unit roll until the settlement is complete and all entitlements have been provided.
• The stated ground of discharge can be challenged separately: the benefit, the pension, housing rights and benefits all depend on it.
• The commander's and the finance office's actions are challenged in a military court, within a limited period counted from the day you learned of the breach.

What we do

• We check the settlement against pay slips, orders and certificates: what was credited, what was not, and why.
• We verify length of service and the resulting amount of the lump sum benefit.
• We check how unused leave and compensation for it have been accounted for.
• We prepare a written report and applications to the commander and the finance office for the shortfall.
• We challenge the order removing you from the unit roll in the military court where the settlement is incomplete.
• We challenge the ground of discharge where it is that wording that deprives you of payments and guarantees.

What we need from you

• The extract from the discharge order and, if issued, from the order removing you from the unit roll.
• Pay slips for your final months of service and a certificate of your service pay.
• A certificate of length of service (total duration of military service).
• Your contract and extracts from orders on allowances, bonuses and the tasks you carried out.
• Records of leave taken and leave still unused.
• The military medical board finding, where the discharge is connected with health.