U.S. Employees Owed Military Leave Payments

By ARI PAUL

An Albany-based law firm and the American Federation of Government Employees have joined forces to help thousands of Federal employees who were wrongly docked pay while on military leave during the 1980s and '90s.

Matthew Tully of Tully, Rinckey and Associates has represented Federal workers who lost vacation, weekend and holiday pay to which they were entitled while serving in the military reserves and the National Guard. AFGE lawyers had also represented the union's affected members. Mr. Tully now works as a co-counsel with AFGE.

Restricted Paid Leave

"We got overwhelmed with cases," Mr. Tully said. "The AFGE office was getting flooded with members."

For two decades prior to 2000, Federal agencies included weekend and vacation days among the 15 days a year Federal employees were allowed to be paid while on military leave, he explained. In 2003, a Federal court ruled in Butterbaugh v. Department of Justice that these days should not have been included and that Federal employees could sue their employers to get the money back.

Mr. Tully said that there are at least 100,000 Federal workers who are entitled to at least four days of lost pay per year that they served in the armed forces. In addition to attorneys' fees, he expected the Federal Government to make $1 billion in payouts over the next several years.

Mr. Tully's office received 3,000 case files from the union Oct. 29 and expects to receive 7,000 over the next few years. Federal workers who believe they are eligible for compensation can learn more about the firm's practice at www.fedattorney.com. AFGE members can also go to www.afge.org/militaryleave.