|
NEW YORK VA OFFICE ACCUSED OF MASSIVE DECEPTION IN VETERANS' DISABILITY CLAIMS PROCESSING
|
The Department of Veterans Affairs has reassigned the director of its New York
regional office after finding that employees there misdated hundreds of veterans disability claims
to make it appear they were being processed on time.The NY Regional VA office serves over 800,000 veterans.
A summary of an investigation by the VA
showed that of 20 claims examined by VA investigators at the New York office
during a July visit, 16 had been marked with apparently phony dates to suggest
their processing had begun within the required seven days of their arrival.
A wider audit in August showed that 56.4 percent of claims
carried incorrect intake dates, according to the summary, which was dated Nov.
10. According to the summary, several employees told VA investigators that their
supervisor had instructed them to enter incorrect dates, and that the practice
was widely known.
VA investigators also found that the New York office has
ignored "significant amounts" of its mail, officials said. An Oct. 6 visit by
investigators, for example, turned up 700 pieces of mail that had not been acted
upon. Aikele also said investigators recovered at least five documents related
to claims that had been improperly placed in shredder bins.
Without referring by name to the New York director, Patricia
Amberg-Blyskal, VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said last week that the director
and five other top managers were ousted after investigators discovered a pattern
of deception in the handling of claims at the regional headquarters at 245 W.
Houston St. in Manhattan. The summary said "the director and assistant director were
initially placed on administrative leave but now have been detailed to other
work sites to complete assigned projects." Four other managers were placed on
administrative leave, according to the summary. Newsday November 24, 2008
|
|
What Must Federal Agency Include in a Return to Work Job Offer to Injured Employee?
|
 Injured federal employees will commonly be faced with a return to work demand by their federal agency employer. What are the basic required elements of a suitable job offer?
For a suitable
job offer, the agency should make sure there is a specific date provided that a claimant has to acknowledge whether he will accept or decline
the job and the current date of the job offer.
The job offer must include at a minimum:
- the position title
- the salary
- the duty hours
- the start date
- the grade position
- the work accommodations
- and include an
acceptance/declination statement along with a statement that says:
'Failure to respond to job offer will be considered a declination.'
If the employee
declines the offer, the Department of Labor will give her an additional
period of time to say why. The first time around it could give the
worker 30 days. The employee bears the burden of proof to show that the job offer was not suitable and that her refusal of the job offer was reasonable.
The fact that the injured employee may have already been found as medically disabled from all work by the SSA and also that the injured employee may have already been medically retired by her federal agency employer as unable to perform her assigned job will not be considered as acceptable reasons to refuse a suitable job offer by that very same federal agency employer.
If the Department of Labor determines that the injured federal employee unreasonably refused a suitable job offer, her current injury compensation benefits and her rights to future compensation benefits will be terminated.
|
