4300 VA Employees Fired

[Oceanbound]

4,300 VA Employees Fired, Demoted, or Suspended for Negligence Under Trump

WASHINGTON—Some 4,300 Veterans Affairs (VA) workers have been demoted, fired, or suspended since President Donald Trump took office, Vice President Mike Pence told a room of veterans caregivers on Nov. 26.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/4300-va-workers-fired-demoted-suspended-for-negligence-under-trump_2724418.html

Good!

[vetquest]

I agree with ya Buck.  Both times I have won on appeal I would have gotten ten years of interest.

[GeekySquid]

I see everyone is cheering on the bandwagon about these firings. Fair enough...but  look at the way the numbers breakdown. you may not cheer quite as loud.

there are almost 400,000 VA employees

In the 2017 numbers 2058 people in total were affected, 1484 people were removed, 86 demoted and 488 were given a two week vacation.

Of that 1484 number 1027 were NOT medical people and were NOT claims related people.

457 people in Medical jobs and Claims related jobs were removed. There were o 83 claims related people removed.

The 2018 numbers read similarly

In these numbers they break out the difference between removal and termination. They also list the numbers terminated during probation which I find to be significant.

in 2018 they report 2299 were involved. 1049 were probationary employees, 68 were demoted and 83 had what they call long suspensions. the actual numbers don't add up to the report summary numbers by about 5.

in total 1201 were padding in the report. probationary employees are just newbies and since we know this administration and the VA like to tell lies and twist facts it is likely many of those newbies may have just left for better jobs. we just don't know but  can reasonably suspect that possibility.

so that leaves us 1098 terminated or removed workers.

in the numbers there were 59 listed as terminated, 25 of which were NOT medical people. so housekeepers and cops.

in the removed category there were 1029 people in total, 719 were NOT medical people. 310 were medical types including nurses aides and student nurses.

 

so why is everyone happy that carpenters, welders, file clerks, housekeepers and cooks were terminated?

also keep in mind that the VA has gotten rid of EMPLOYEES and replaced them with CONTRACTORS for our medical care. Classifying these results as being "removals" sheds no light on what type personnel these were, but I suspect the medical types were mostly employees particularly since the 2018 shows the terminated category along with the removal category.

headlines and stories like these give me heartburn because they amount to red meat waved before hungry animals. The actual substance is usually not equal to the headlines intent and most people won't bother to actually look at the underlying numbers.

i have attached the 2 reports converted to excel files in case anyone wants to see the numbers themselves. In them I have filtered and broken down the categories and worker types,

 

Accountability_Report_101118_1.xlsx

Adverse_Actions_Report_2017_050418_1.xlsx

Edited November 29, 2018 by GeekySquid

[Berta]

Thanks for breaking it all down- however the way I see this is- 

But for  the Acountability Act- 4,300 employees would probably still be there.

Many of the VSRs , other RO employees , and medical personnel etc. who got canned were also probably reported by RO employees.

If veterans really started to report more incompetence, these figures would go up-

You made a good point here-

 

"also keep in mind that the VA has gotten rid of EMPLOYEES and replaced them with CONTRACTORS for our medical care. Classifying these results as being "removals" sheds no light on what type personnel these were, but I suspect the medical types were mostly employees particularly since the 2018 shows the terminated category along with the removal category."

That is part of my OAWB complaint-which overed a lot more than I thought- by many submissions I made to them

This practice will stop our ability to 1151 or FTCA claims against any Non VA Doctor., who malpractices  a veteran.

The bulk of my complaint is because the VA hides their true malpractice statistics.I already have posted here how they do that-and have griped to H VAC, former Secs, the OGC, etc for years about this and where the statistics can be found. I sent evidence to support the original complaint - and had evidence from GAO to bolster it.

I recently heard from a vet who I think had my email from the older pre 2005 hadit board.

He deals with the same VARO I deal with and has complained to the H VAC and IG about them-

and had a similar problem with their director as I had- she was trying to get him to drop a 1151 claim he has pending- Buffalo probably gets plenty of 1151 claims.

I  am giving him the OAWB contact info today-

He has never been afraid of the VA and won his claims so far by fighting back at every turn... 

His email was prmarily to tell me this-

"I received the decision yesterday in the mail.  The BVA granted 100% for COPD with sleep apnea back to June 2005."

But their director has no right to try to talk him or any vet out of any pending  1151 claim.

I need to send him copy of OGC Pres Op 08-97, same thing I am fighting over.

It is the evidence from veteran's themselves ,that our VAROs and C & P examiners are often incompetent, or simply unwilling to consider our evidence.And since my RO director does not even know basic VA case law-she should be removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[paulstrgn]

I am cynical enough to think the 4,300 employees removed were the ones trying to help vets or approved too many claims. JMO 

[Berta]

https://www.va.gov/accountability/

You can file a complaint at the link above-

BTW all-I guess you all know that VA completely changed their web site- You need to google their older main site to find IRIS and the Acountability Act office-

Paul-I completely disagree with your comment. But that is only because I have dealt with VA since 1981.

I personally know someone with years of service at VA, who feared they were  about to be canned-( for good cause) but he retired right away.

At the time he was having major problems, I gave him the link to the radio show I did on the Accountability Act, and told him it changed the Employee handbook- apparently he never listened to the show but the union gave him the new handbook. 

 

 

[paulstrgn]

Ms. Berta -- As I said I was being cynical -- I hope the VA is firing the correct people.

Edited November 29, 2018 by paulstrgn