In its next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will review a Coast Guard reservist’s challenge of a denial of differential pay. His attorneys have argued that the case will affect not only federal employers but also private-sector employers that offer differential pay for certain roles.

Differential pay—also commonly called “top-up pay”—is the difference between a service member’s civilian pay, which is usually higher, and their military pay, which is usually lower, said Mark Girouard, an attorney with Nilan Johnson Lewis in Minneapolis.

“Federal employers are required to provide differential pay for certain kinds of service obligations,” he said. “Private-sector employers are not required to provide differential pay, but many do voluntarily.” He added that the purpose of the differential pay requirement for federal employees is to remove economic disadvantages to service, thereby helping support the recruitment and retention of reservists.

In the brief that helped persuade the Supreme Court to review the case, the petitioner noted that more than 1 million people serve in the Armed Services’ Reserve, including each branch’s Reserve components and each state’s National Guard.

Top-up pay may provide some reservists only a few hundred dollars above their military pay per month, but that might be the difference in paying for rent or a week’s worth of groceries, the brief stated. It added, “For other reservists, the differential might be substantial.”

Petitioner’s Case

The...

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