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Ask the Lawyer: Navigating retirement benefits can be tricky

Lawyer Mathew B. Tully answers your questions.

Q. I’m retiring from the military because of a combat-related injury and plan to work for the federal government as a civilian. I’ve heard that as a federal employee, I’ll be ineligible for Combat-Related Special Compensation. True?

This issue is in litigation. Federal employees who waived retired pay in order to include military service as part of a civil-service retirement program may not be immediately eligible for CRSC, and may be required to request through the Office of Personnel Management to separate military time from civil service retirement to restore eligibility.

Combat-Related Special Compensation is a tax-free monthly payment that allows eligible retired veterans to receive what amounts to full military retirement pay and Veterans Affairs disability compensation if their injury is combat-related.

Without CRSC, many veterans with combat-related injuries would have their military retirement pay reduced by the amount they receive in disability compensation, so it’s vital to understand the CRSC benefit and your eligibility status. The difference in monthly benefits could be substantial.

Injuries that qualify for CRSC are those that can be documented and fall under one of four broad categories: as a direct result of armed combat, during training that simulates war, while performing hazardous duty (parachuting, diving), or through an instrumentality of war (military vehicles, weapons).

Eligibility was greatly expanded in 2008 to include all veterans receiving military retired pay, including Medical Chapter 61, Temporary Early Retirement Act and Temporary Disabled Retirement List retirees.

Chapter 61 retirees — which include TDRL retirees — are those who were medically retired from the military with disability ratings of 30 percent or greater. TERA retirees include those who had 15 to 19 years of service when offered early retirement from 1993 to 2001. Under the new eligibility requirements, medical and TERA retirees must provide documentation indicating that their current VA disability is the result of a combat-related injury.

Combat-related determinations are made by each service branch.

General information on CRSC and its companion program, Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, is online here.

More detailed information on CRSC is available here.

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Mathew B. Tully is an Iraq war veteran and founding partner of the law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC. E-mail questions to askthelawyer@militarytimes.com. The information in this column is not intended as legal advice.