The US government owes several years of uncompensated differential pay to federal workers who left civil service to serve on active military duty, according to a new administrative class complaint.
The service members were denied back pay and other compensation by their agencies after they returned from deployment, five current and former reservists alleged Wednesday in a filing to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
They claimed the government is acting in defiance of the US Supreme Court’s April 2025 decision in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, which held that federal workers called to active duty during a national emergency are entitled to differential pay under the Reservists Pay Security Act. Their salaries should match what they would’ve earned in their civilian jobs, not the lesser rate offered during active duty, they said.
The Office of Personnel Management, which serves as the federal government’s human resources arm, has yet to propose a new rule or update its policies to reflect the high court’s ruling, the complaint said.
Lacy Jaudon, Shahara Timbrook, Shea Matthew Gibbons, Bryce Miller, and John Mezzanotte are seeking differential pay for current and former reservists who worked at the departments of Defense, Justice, and Veterans Affairs.
Their proposed class dates back to March 2009, when Congress enacted the reservist differential pay law.
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