Back pay

Back Pay: Is It VA, DFAS or OWCP?

Three different agencies pay three different kinds of money. Each has its own decision letter, its own appeal rules and its own deadline. Find out who owes you before you file anything.

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Why I built this page. A flyer is going around that lumps VA, DFAS and the Department of Labor together. The idea is sound: a retroactive VA decision can touch more than one agency. Some of its details I could not confirm, and I say which below. I am not a lawyer and I am not VA.
Start here

Three agencies, three kinds of money

  • VA Disability compensation and Veterans Pension. Decision letters come from VA, and the review options are the VA lanes below.
  • DFAS Military retired pay, CRDP and, in many cases, CRSC payments. DFAS is the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, part of the Department of Defense.
  • OWCP Workers' compensation for federal civilian employees hurt on the job, under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA). OWCP is the Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs.

Look at the top of every letter and every payment statement. The agency name tells you whose rules apply.

Find the agency first. Everything else follows from it.
VA

If VA owes you

After a VA decision you generally have one year to choose a review lane: a Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995), a Higher-Level Review (20-0996) or a Board appeal (10182). You generally cannot run two lanes on the same issue at once. A Supplemental Claim stays open after the year, but a late one generally cannot reach back to the original date (38 U.S.C. 5104C and 38 CFR 3.2500).

Your effective date sets how far back the money goes. I explain that on Effective Dates and Back Pay. How to choose a lane is on Appeal a VA Decision. For pension, see Veterans Pension.

Use the deadline on your VA letter.
DFAS

If DFAS pays you

When a VA rating goes up, your retired pay and the concurrent-pay programs may change too. I explain the two programs on CRDP and CRSC.

  • CRDP An Air Force benefits page says it is automatic: if you qualify, you do not apply.
  • CRSC You apply through your own branch of service, using DD Form 2860, and send copies, not originals. VA's CRSC page says payment comes from DFAS, another service payment office or VA. It also lists the branch offices.

You may ask DFAS or your branch to explain, in writing, how a payment was worked out. I could not find a published rule that makes them hand you a month-by-month audit, so treat that as a request and not a right.

CRDP is automatic. CRSC starts with your branch.
OWCP

If the Department of Labor owes you

A civilian federal job injury is a separate system. A Department of Labor training document on FECA appeal rights lists three paths:

  • 30 days Request a hearing or a review of the written record, before you ask for reconsideration.
  • 1 year Ask OWCP for reconsideration. A late request needs "clear evidence of error."
  • 180 days Appeal to the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB). It cannot take new evidence.
That document carries no date, and it is training material. Use the review rights and deadline printed in your own OWCP decision letter, not the numbers here.
Your letter's deadline controls. Do not rely on mine.
Overlap

When VA and FECA cover the same injury

Under 5 U.S.C. 8116, while you receive FECA compensation you generally cannot also receive other federal pay. Retired military pay is an exception. VA benefits are an exception too, unless they are paid for the same injury or death.

If you are entitled to FECA and to another federal benefit for the same injury, based on federal or military service, you must choose one. The choice generally must be made within one year, and generally cannot be undone. Ask OWCP in writing how this applies to you before you accept any overlapping payment.

Same injury, two agencies: you may have to choose.
Do this

A simple way to keep track

  1. Write down which agency issued each decision and each payment.
  2. Make a month-by-month list: what you should have received, what you did receive, and the difference.
  3. Keep every letter, rating notice, DFAS statement, OWCP decision and bank record together.
  4. Ask each agency to explain its own calculation, in writing. Keep a separate deadline for each agency.
One folder, one list, one deadline per agency.
Honest gaps

What I could not verify

  • How DFAS processes a retroactive VA rating change, and how long it takes. I found no primary source.
  • Whether DFAS or your branch must provide a written audit. I found nothing saying so.
  • OWCP's current review deadlines. I read an undated Department of Labor training document only.
  • Whether CRDP and CRSC adjust differently after a retroactive rating. I did not research that.
  • Any special rules for survivors, reservists or National Guard.
If it is not here, I did not verify it.
Before you act. On October 19, 2026 I read 38 U.S.C. 5104C, 38 CFR 3.2500 and 5 U.S.C. 8116 on Cornell LII, VA's CRSC page, an Air Force benefits page on CRDP, and a Department of Labor FECA appeal-rights document. The flyer behind this page is a third-party AI-made graphic, not government material. Rules and deadlines change. The official source and your own decision letter win over me.

Sources