The Navy is launching a crash program to make sure sailors get their pay and benefits on time and that these are calculated accurately, Norfolk-based Fleet Forces Command said.
The command, along with Naval Forces Europe-Africa and U.S. Pacific fleet, issued a task order to fix pay issues.
It said sailors have reported problems receiving their basic allowance for housing, special pay entitlements, permanent change of station travel entitlements, separation pay and retirement pay.
“Good, bad, or ugly, it is important that we get after issues that are impeding readiness and our ability to be the best Navy in the world,” said Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
“Input from our fleet sailors made it very clear that our pay system is not running smoothly,” he said. “Timely and accurate pay for our Sailors is a no-fail mission and the task order is our initial plan to get after it.”
Rear Adm. Stu Satterwhite, the commander of the MyNavy Career Center, said the problems stem from a lack of standardized processes, insufficient training for pay administrators and incompletely developed information technology. On top of that, a flood of high priority payments to support families after the Red Hill fuel spill in Hawaii have created a backlog of transactions to be processed.
“Bottom line, the amount of work in waiting is completely unacceptable, and we are working toward quickly drawing it down and getting our sailor pay program back on track,” Satterwhite said.
The crash effort aims at getting pay and entitlements in sailors’ hands within 14 days of eligibility. The deadline for this is the end of the year.
In addition, the task order calls for clearing up a backlog of overdue claims for permanent change of station travel and separation and retirement payment by Dec. 15.
It calls for tiger teams — the NASA concept of technical experts focused on specific problems — to cut the backlog and sets strict deadlines for new reports on the status of payments and backlogs.
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