Va Timeline Policy....

[veteran7796]

Good Morning,

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a long term (13 year employee) VA rater on a personal level who is outside of my RO in another state. The rater seemed to be appalled at how my RO in Waco has handled both my claim and many other claims in this region.

The rater informed me it is written verbatim in VA policy that once a rating decision has been made and granted, the VA has exactly 5 working days to "promulgate" the claim, finalize it and pay the veteran.

Has anyone else heard this?

I ask because both my VSO and this rater looked at my info and said my claim is already rated, it just needs to finalize. The thing is, they rated my claim and granted it over a month ago...and it's just sitting there. The rater said it could be done "today" if they wanted and there is no excuse after a decision has been made and approved for it to sit for another month...let alone another week.

However, my VSO who works at the RO in Waco just told me although my claim is rated, I should expect another 60 days before they can process it.

I told the rater what my VSO said and the rater said that was absolutely absurd and that the VSO should have already reviewed it in (VBMS?), sent it back and have it processed right away. No excuse.

Any thoughts?

[veteran7796]

Carlie,

The rater I spoke to and my VSO both said the notes on the acct reflect that my inital rating for my neck should have been rated atl10%. Paraphrase: "Due to a Clear and Unmistakable Error the rating for neck injury is increased from 0 to 10% due to range of motion was limited to x amount of degrees during C&P examination....new rating is effective to 5/31/2011.

In addition, the rater said they absolutely have 5 working days to promulgate the rating once a decision has been made or they are in violation of policy. As a current federal employee I know that if I were to fail to get certification before a contract expires I would absolutely get paperwork or a day on the street without pay.

My mother has worked for the VA for over 30 years (unfortunately not in the compensation arena) and she gives me a very real scenario of what occurs. Its unfortunate.

[carlie]

Carlie,

In addition, the rater said they absolutely have 5 working days to promulgate the rating once a decision has been made or they are in violation of policy.

Oh goodness - I laughed so hard reading the above that I almost wet my britches : - )

Heck, many times it takes 5 days to get something from the mailroom to the decision maker.

Policy is violated on a regular basis without repercussion - remember we get paid no interest

on our money - which by some Policy's ( not VBA's) is a violation under our property rights.

Procedural errors are made frequently without repercussion, etc . . .

I sure hope you get your money in the timeframe quoted - if you do, you might want to also

purchase a lottery ticket on that lucky day.

Me personally, I don't drink the kool-aid.

Also, thanks for the CUE info - looks like the VBA caught a CUE on it's own - did they ?

jmho

[veteran7796]

No I requested the increase because my 1 year appeal date was nearing and the VA never did anything with my FOIA request to get my records for the appeal.

[carlie]

No I requested the increase because my 1 year appeal date was nearing and the VA never did anything with my FOIA request to get my records for the appeal.

I believe when you requested the increase is when the VA called a CUE on their prior decision.

My point being is that the VBA caught the CUE and corrected it.

This action prevented you from having to wait out the one year timeframe,for the prior decision to become final,

then submit YOUR contention and evidence that a CUE was made, and wait another

2 or 3 years for them to adjudicate that yes a CUE had been made, and award accordingly (retroactively).

This saved a huge amount of time and anguish.

Just for clarification, the VBA, in not fulfilling your FOIA request in a timely manner, played

no part in the finding of a CUE.

[veteran7796]

Yeah I know. It just didn't help my appeal evidence though (the foia request).

One more question. I submitted info to my vso for financial hardship and the va shows it was received. Does it really help expedite your claim?

[veteran7796]

Oh goodness - I laughed so hard reading the above that I almost wet my britches : - )

Heck, many times it takes 5 days to get something from the mailroom to the decision maker.

Policy is violated on a regular basis without repercussion - remember we get paid no interest

on our money - which by some Policy's ( not VBA's) is a violation under our property rights.

I know that it does. I've been working for the federal government for almost 20 years (8 years with the Bureau of Prisons). Im just speaking from my experience that if we have 5 working days to get something filed or input into a database, it better be done. Once Program Review time comes around, you will fail audit and be held accountable. Many "policies" contain MUST, SHALL and WILL therefore they are mandatory. When I was Quality Assurance these were direct write ups and could garner administrative action and most times they did.

As I said before, if I were to allow a contract to expire before completing all the required paperwork, I would be on the street without pay for 3 days...no question. The VA should be held to the same standard and it appears they are not.