Unpaid service pay and combat allowances

What is happening

Pay is calculated from orders and from the data the unit passes to the pay centre. The breakdown is almost always on the documents side: the order assigning you to tasks was never issued, the data was never uploaded, you appear on one list and not on another. The money is missing not because it is not due, but because the basis was never recorded.

Combat allowances are a case of their own. They are credited for specific periods confirmed by orders and unit reports. If the period is not recorded, the allowance simply never appears on the pay slip, and command replies that «no grounds were received».

The third case is a supplement withdrawn, or money recovered as overpaid, on the strength of an order you have never seen. There the first step is to obtain the order itself, and only then to argue about its lawfulness.

What the law says

• The composition of service pay, the supplements and the procedure for paying them are set by Federal Law No. 306-FZ of 7 November 2011 on servicemen's pay and by Ministry of Defence orders, not by the commander's decision.
• The basis for crediting is an order together with the data sent to the pay authority. A unit's failure to upload that data does not remove your right to the money.
• Allowances for the performance of tasks are credited for periods confirmed by orders and unit reports; a dispute about an allowance is a dispute about whether the period was recorded.
• Inaction by command or by the pay authority is challenged in the garrison military court in administrative proceedings.
• Arrears of pay are recovered for the whole period of non-payment, with interest in addition where payment was late.
• A supplement may be withdrawn, or money recovered, only on established grounds and by an order, and you are entitled to obtain that order.

What we do

• We work through the pay slips for the period in dispute and show exactly what was not credited and from which month.
• We request the orders, extracts and the data sent to the pay authority; without them the dispute is only talk.
• We prepare your written application to the commander and to the pay authority with a specific demand rather than a general complaint.
• We pursue the issue of the order covering the period of tasks performed, where none exists.
• We prepare the administrative claim to the garrison military court for the arrears and against the inaction.
• We claim interest for late payment and follow the transfer through after judgment.

What we need from you

• Pay slips for the months in dispute, or the bank statement for the account pay went into.
• The contract and extracts from the orders appointing you and posting you to the unit.
• Documents on the tasks performed: extracts, certificates, deployment papers.
• Your written applications with registration marks and any replies received.
• The order withdrawing the supplement or ordering recovery, if it was shown to you.
• Details of the period and the subunit, so we can frame the requests precisely.