A Different Department – The Same Mandate, The Same Consequences
Unlike the Air Force, Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and Space Force, the U.S. Coast Guard does not sit under the Department of Defense in peacetime – it operates under the Department of Homeland Security. But when the COVID-19 vaccine mandate came down in August 2021, the Coast Guard adopted it in lockstep, imposing the same vaccination requirement, the same religious accommodation process, and the same separation pipeline on its active-duty and reserve members.
Coast Guardsmen who declined the vaccine – many for sincerely held religious beliefs, others over lawful concerns about Emergency Use Authorization status – found themselves moved quickly through separation proceedings. Boatswain’s Mates, Aviation Survival Technicians, Marine Science Technicians, Maritime Enforcement Specialists, pilots, and officers across every rating saw careers built on lifesaving missions and maritime security ended over a single medical decision.
Because the Coast Guard sits under DHS rather than DoD, it was not included in the DoD-focused Bassen case. Coast Guardsmen needed their own vehicle for relief. That vehicle is Harkins et al v. United States.
Harkins v. United States: How Former Coast Guardsmen Can Recover Back Pay
Harkins et al. v. United States is a class action filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of active-duty and reserve U.S. Coast Guard members who were involuntarily discharged, constructively separated, or forced into early retirement due to their unvaccinated status under the Coast Guard’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The relief sought includes back pay, restoration of rank, service credit, correction of Coast Guard records, retirement eligibility, and optional reinstatement.
Harkins is the only one of the three pending cases filed by Military Back Pay PLLC that covers the Coast Guard. If you were separated from the Coast Guard for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, Harkins – not Bassen and not Konie – is your case.
Lead attorney Dale Saran is a retired military officer with extensive experience litigating military pay and personnel claims in the Court of Federal Claims. The Harkins team understands how Coast Guard separations differ from DoD separations – from the structure of the personnel records, to the role of DHS in policy, to the particular special pays that apply at sea and in aviation.
What Former Coast Guardsmen May Be Owed
Every Coast Guardsman’s situation is different, but the categories of potential recovery in Harkins include: base pay from the date of wrongful discharge through what would have been normal separation or retirement; all special and incentive pays; Basic Allowance for Housing and Subsistence; retirement benefits – especially for those who were within striking distance of 20 years; enlistment and reenlistment bonuses that were clawed back; and correction of Coast Guard records, including discharge characterization, separation code, and reentry code.
For Chief Petty Officers, Senior Chiefs, Master Chiefs, and officers separated mid- or late-career, the numbers can be substantial. A Coast Guardsman separated between 12 and 18 years of service had a retirement that was almost in hand pulled away. Harkins seeks to make that right.
Religious Accommodations and the Coast Guard
The Coast Guard’s religious accommodation review during the mandate period tracked the same broad pattern seen across the DoD services: a process that, in practice, denied the overwhelming majority of sincere requests. If you submitted a religious accommodation request that was denied – and almost all were – that denial is relevant to your claim under Harkins.
How to Join the Harkins Case
If you are a former active-duty or reserve Coast Guardsman who was discharged, constructively separated, or forced into early retirement between August 24, 2021 and January 10, 2023 due to refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine, visit militarybackpay.com to complete the free opt-in form. There is no upfront cost, no obligation to return to service, and no risk in getting your case reviewed.
The Coast Guard’s motto is Semper Paratus – Always Ready. The men and women who held the line on their convictions deserve the same resolve in recovering what is rightfully theirs.
Think you qualify? Visit militarybackpay.com to complete the opt-in form.
