A federal law has forced nearly 122,000 disabled veterans in the last 12 years to return payouts — some totaling tens of thousands of dollars — they received to leave the military when it needed to downsize, according to new data obtained by NBC News.

The statistics come amid renewed calls to change the little-known law, which prohibits veterans from receiving both disability and special separation pay, which are one-time, lump-sum incentives offered to service members when the U.S. had…