More than 120,000 disabled veterans are forced to return payouts over little-known law

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has demanded more than 120,000 disabled veterans pay back lump-sum special separation payments given out over the past 12 years, a new report revealed.

The requests, issued from 2013 until now, stem from a law designed to prevent vets from receiving both disability and special separation pay.

The 'recoupment,' when the government claws back the payments sometimes years later, has thrust some into hardship, as vets at times have to pay back tens of thousands of dollars, NBC News reported.

'That's wrong,' Vernon Reffitt, 62, told NBC News last month of the little-known practice. 'You can't just up and take it back.'