New Military Board Mandates Back Pay and Promotion Fixes for Service Members Denied COVID Vaccine Religious Exemptions

The “Reaffirming Every Servicemembers’ Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act,” or the RESTORE Act, aims to correct career damage suffered by military personnel who sought religious accommodations from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. This bill immediately establishes a new Special Review Board within the Department of Defense (DoD) to audit all religious accommodation requests made since 2020. This Board is specifically tasked with identifying service members whose careers were negatively impacted—through delayed promotions, bad evaluations, or forced separations—and ordering specific fixes.

The Career Clean Slate

Think of this Board as a high-level administrative cleanup crew with real power. Under Section 2, if the Board finds a service member was unfairly penalized, they must order specific remedies. This isn't just a slap on the wrist; they can order the DoD to award the service member the promotion they should have received, backdating their Date of Rank (DOR) to match their peers. For someone who lost out on years of higher pay or retirement contributions, the Board must also mandate back pay and restoration of lost benefits. If a service member was forced to leave the service due to an unfair denial, the Board can order their reinstatement. This is a massive administrative undertaking, requiring the DoD to compensate individuals within 60 days of the Board’s final ruling on their case.

Wiping the Record

One of the most immediate and tangible impacts for affected personnel is the mandate to completely expunge negative paperwork related to the vaccine refusal (Section 2). This means getting rid of administrative reprimands, adverse evaluations, and any other documentation that could have stalled a career or led to separation. For reservists, the Board must ensure they get credit for any satisfactory participation years lost due to the policy. This provision is key because a clean record is essential for future career progression, assignments, and promotions within the military structure.

The Cost of Accountability

While this bill provides a clear path for remediation for those who felt wronged, it comes with a significant administrative cost. The Act authorizes necessary appropriations to fund the entire process (Section 5), including the back pay and benefits owed to thousands of potentially affected service members. This means taxpayers will fund the correction of these records and the compensation packages. The DoD also faces a massive administrative lift; they have only one year to complete the initial review of all affected personnel (Section 2). Furthermore, Congress is demanding rigorous oversight (Section 3). The Secretary of Defense must provide an initial report within 90 days and then send detailed quarterly updates on how many cases were reviewed, how much back pay was distributed, and how many records were cleaned up. For DoD leadership, this means a sustained focus on compliance and massive data collection to meet these reporting requirements.

The Gray Area of “Hurt”

There is a medium level of vagueness in the bill concerning how the Board defines and quantifies career damage. Section 2 requires the Board to determine if asking for accommodation “hurt a service member’s career.” While the bill lists examples like denied promotions or bad evaluations, the extent of required remediation—especially for subtle issues like being passed over for a key assignment—will rely heavily on the Board’s interpretation. If the Board takes a narrow view, some service members might feel their issues weren't fully addressed. Conversely, a broad view could lead to complex, individualized compensation packages that are difficult to implement fairly and quickly across all branches of the armed forces.