Misc Pub 27-8 Legal Handbook Commander’s 2019

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Submitted to approving authority. If approving authority does not reverse the decision, the request becomes an appeal, which is forwarded to the appeal authority by the approving author- ity.
Appeal authority is the next higher commander or DA civilian in the chain of command or supervision. The decision of appeal authority is final. Only further recourse is application to ABCMR. The investigation must receive a legal review by a legal advisor prior to appeal authority action.
Reopening financial liability investigations is not an appeal. The authority to reopen rests with the approval authority. It may occur as part of an appeal of the assessment of financial liability when a response is submitted to the surveying officer from the person charged subsequent to the approving authority having assessed liability when a subordinate headquarters recommends reopening based upon new evidence when the property is recovered or when the approving authority becomes aware that an injustice has occurred.
L. Limits on Financial Liability
The general rule is that an individual will not be charged more than one month’s base pay.
The amount charged is based upon the Soldier’s base pay at the time of the loss.
For ARNG and USAR personnel, base pay is the amount they would receive if they were on active duty.
For civilian employees it is 1/12 of their annual pay.
Exceptions to the general rule are when there are times when personnel are liable for the full amount of the loss. AR 735-5, para. a. Any Soldier is liable for the full loss to the Government (less depreciation) when they lose, damage, or destroy personal arms or equipment. Any person is liable for the full loss of public funds. Accountable officers will be liable for the full amount of the loss. Any person assigned government quarters is liable for the full amount of the loss to the quarters, furnishings, or equipment as a result of gross negligence or willful misconduct of the responsible individual, his guests, dependents, or pets.
Collective financial liability Two or more persons maybe held liable for the same loss. There is no comparative negligence. Financial loss is apportioned according to AR 735-5, Table
12-4. Each respondent pays a percentage of the loss in accordance with their percentage of pay when all respondents pay is totaled. If one of the collective liability respondents is not federally employed, divide the total amount of the loss by the total number of respondents. Each respondent is liable for that amount or their monthly pay, whichever is less.

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