VA Claims Backlog Falls But More Work Ahead
The Department of Veterans Affairs has reduced a disability claims backlog but more work remains to be done, according to recent testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has reduced a disability claims backlog but more work remains to be done, according to recent testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
At least 85 nurses in the VA are working as full-time union representatives. Two Senators are questioning the impact on veterans of federal employees working as full-time union representatives.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that GI Bill is now a registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and VA is the sole owner of the mark.
Congressmen Jeff Miller (R-FL) and Richard Burr (R-NC) have called for VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich to be removed from his position following an Inspector General report outlining excessive spending on recent conferences.
A vocational rehabilitation specialist working with a female veteran with diminished mental capacity was removed after the VA made four charges against him with multiple specifications.
The appeals court has sustained the firing of a VA Police Service lieutenant stemming from his treatment of a homeless visitor.
A VA Medical Center employee was fired for, among other charges, brandishing a knife, but he argued it was a “utility utensil.”
As usual, the attorneys that filed class action lawsuits fared much better than those they are representing in this case involving the Department of Veterans Affairs. Attorneys suing the VA wanted 25% of a $20 million fund, or $5 million. The judge decided they would get only 18% or $3.6 million. Represented veterans got from $75 to $1500.
An agency can find itself in the middle of a political and media firestorm quickly and unexpectedly. The Dept. of Veterans Affairs has found itself in the middle of another controversy it doesn’t want. The relatively new political appointee caught in the middle is undergoing a trial by fire.
This VA employee thought he should be paid at a higher grade level; OPM disagreed.