Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) officials announced today they have received the first waiver decisions from the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) on the erroneous payment of Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) to civilian employees.  In the first 18 cases reviewed, DOHA approved the DFAS recommendation for waiver of the debt in each case.

According to Mr. Aaron Gillison, director of the DFAS Indianapolis site, notification to the affected employees has occurred. 

"This is great news for these employees and we expect more positive decisions in the coming weeks," said Mr. Gillison.  "The Department of Defense and DFAS recognize the significant impact to employees who were informed that they had incurred a substantial debt due to the receipt of erroneously granted LQA payments.  I hope these first approvals assist those still considering whether they will file a waiver in making a decision."

Mr. Gillison was encouraged by the speed in which the first waivers made it through the process and were approved.

"The team we sent to Europe to assist people in completing their waiver requests left Europe on Aug. 2.  The following week the first of the packages were processed and forwarded to DOHA and in about two weeks we had the first decisions," he explained.  "Both DFAS and DOHA have committed to adjudicate the requests as quickly as possible.  All organizations involved in this process have the same goal - to streamline this process as much as possible to lessen the burden of the affected employees."

He noted that some employees were still expressing concern about signing the waiver request and he stressed that signing and submitting the request is not an admission of liability by the employee.

"The 2789 waiver form must be signed to begin the waiver process," said Mr. Gillison.   "This waiver process is an administrative process that makes a determination as to whether the erroneous payments were received in good faith by the recipient.   Signing this form does not affect any separate legal rights that employees may have.

Mr. Gillison explained that DFAS has taken extra efforts to expedite and streamline the review of requests for debt waivers, so they can be sent as quickly as possible to DOHA for a decision. 

"Last month, the support team we sent to Europe met with approximately 300 employees, many of whom have already submitted their signed waiver applications.  We will be sending another team to Japan and Korea in September to provide affected employees with individual, one-on-one support in helping them prepare and submit their LQA debt waiver requests," he said.

He encouraged affected employees to visit the DFAS public web site where the agency has established special LQA web pages that provide more information, including a Debt Waiver Guide, downloadable forms, points of contact and frequently asked questions.  He added that employees seeking individual support who did not or cannot attend a live session can contact his or her servicing Human Resources Office to set up an appointment to talk to a DFAS representative by telephone.

Visit DFAS’ website at www.dfas.mil for a link to the LQA home page.  Click on the large LQA graphic on the right-hand side of the page.  Or, visit the LQA home page directly at www.dfas.mil/lqaissue.

__________________

About DFAS

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service provides responsive, professional finance and accounting services to the men and women who defend America. DFAS pays about 6.6 million people and in FY 2012 made 7.1 million travel payments, paid 11.3 million commercial invoices, made $556.5 billion in disbursements to pay recipients, and managed $631.2 billion in military retirement and health benefits funds. For more about DFAS visit http://www.dfas.mil or visit us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/DefenseFinanceandAccountingService.