Bad Paper Discharges Discriminate Against Vets
January 01, 2019
Military service is a sacrifice that can claim much more than the life of the nation’s military men and women. Military service also can disable veterans and leave them in a state that makes them virtually unemployable due to the lingering effects of their military service.
Unfortunately, tens of thousands of U.S. military veterans who received serious wounds and injuries directly caused by their military service – including combat service in many cases, are seeing their earned benefits denied due to bad paper discharges.
Bad paper discharges are another way of saying less-than-honorably discharged soldiers, sailors or airmen/airwomen have done nothing wrong, but their military service has rendered them unusable to the military. In other words, they answered the call to duty, performed as asked, suffered some mishap in most cases — often combat-related, and suddenly are discharged with no benefits available.
Fortunately, two class-action lawsuits seek to correct the bad administrative decisions made that denied hard-earned benefits to tens of thousands of U.S. military veterans. A federal judge in Connecticut in November certified a class action filed by Navy and Marine Corps veterans. The same judge in December certified a similar class action filed by Army veterans given bad paper discharges.
The federal class actions seek to reverse discriminatory decisions against vets with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other afflictions caused by their military service. The class actions also illustrate the ongoing need for effective representation by an experienced veterans benefits attorney.