DOD Begins Prorating Imminent Danger Pay

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2012 — Ser­vice mem­bers now will receive immi­nent dan­ger pay only for days they actu­al­ly spend in haz­ardous areas, Pen­ta­gon offi­cials said here today.

The change, which took effect yes­ter­day, was includ­ed in the 2012 Nation­al Defense Autho­riza­tion Act, which Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma signed into law Dec. 31. 

“Mem­bers will see the pro­rat­ed amount in their Feb. 15 pay records,” Pen­ta­gon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kir­by said. 

The act called for DOD to pay ser­vice mem­bers immi­nent dan­ger pay only for the time they spend in areas that qual­i­fy for the pay. In the past, ser­vice mem­bers received $225 per month if they spent any time that month in an area where the pay was autho­rized. “This is a more tar­get­ed way of han­dling that pay,” Kir­by said. 

Now, ser­vice mem­bers will receive $7.50 a day for days spent in these areas. Per­son­nel who trav­el to the des­ig­nat­ed areas for peri­ods less than 30 days should keep track of the num­ber of days they are in the area to ver­i­fy that they are paid for the cor­rect num­ber of days, offi­cials said. 

The mil­i­tary ser­vices are work­ing to waive or remit debts for mem­bers who may have been over­paid for Jan­u­ary, offi­cials said. The ser­vices can waive this “when there is no indi­ca­tion of fraud, fault, mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion, or when mem­bers were unaware they were over­paid,” Pen­ta­gon spokes­woman Eileen Lainez said. 

Pro­ra­tion is based on a 30-day month, which trans­lates into a rate of $7.50 per day. It does not mat­ter if the month is 28 or 31 days long, offi­cials explained; if ser­vice mem­bers serve in affect­ed areas for the com­plete month, they will receive the full rate of $225 per month. 

The Defense Depart­ment defines immi­nent dan­ger pay areas as places where mem­bers are sub­ject to the threat of phys­i­cal harm or immi­nent dan­ger because of civ­il insur­rec­tion, civ­il war, ter­ror­ism or wartime conditions. 

Ser­vice mem­bers who come under fire, regard­less of loca­tion, will receive the full month­ly hos­tile-fire pay amount of $225.

Ser­vice mem­bers will receive noti­fi­ca­tion of the change via emails, on the MyPay sys­tem, on social media sites and via the chain of command. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)