Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

This ^. Read what they’re actually saying to the media. They’re explicitly saying they want to force people to quit. I think, obviously, you shouldn’t quit because you could be giving up your rights — severance, unemployment (who knows what the job market will look like with these clowns in charge), the union taking action on your behalf. It’ll be interesting to see how management responds. Given how they treated the union last time, I doubt they’ll be trying to protect Board employees but will be more interested in self preservation & looking loyal to their new boss. I look forward to what the union says at the upcoming meeting and hearing their action plan. As I see it, our telework agreements are contracts for which we relied on when we went remote in our locations. & these clowns have openly stated their reasons for this apparent upcoming EO, and it’s not a legitimate reason. It’s simply indefensible. But who knows what will happen. Things could change but from what I’m reading now, they want an executive order on day 1 to return to DC. Though, our new boss has also said he wants to move parts of the federal government out of DC, decentralize it. There’s a reason for this — make VA less blue. Also, the reason for crashing the economy — they make money when they do it. Stocks become cheap. They’re selling billions in stocks now. These oligarch billionaires are ready to become trillionaires. Also, they’re trying to break the government to destroy what they see as the deep state. They want to install their people. Even your job likely through a loyalty test and little to no POCs, lgbtq, etc. They have stated this. They don’t like the fact the government is multicultural, diverse. They went to destroy this. One thing I’d like to see our union do is educate the public about how important federal employees are to the lives of Americans and that we’re hardworking through reaching out to the media. They want us to be scared and they want us to quit. Let them fire you. This is a form of protest. Contact your local media and call your representatives. Have your friends and family do the same thing. Maybe we’ll dodge this bullet, but they seem hellbent on making it happen.

Okay, point taken. However, assuming half the people do agree to move to Washington to keep their job, VA will have to get more space to accommodate them. Several hundred Board employees are not going to fit in a few cubicles at 425 Eye Street.

I understand, and I should’ve been clear my point is for people, most likely all fully remote, who can’t come back to DC because they can’t afford to move to DC, have mortgages, need to be close to family or their community for whatever reasons, don’t want to move schools, etc., & relied on their employer’s promise they can do their job remotely.

Thanks for responding. I agree that many people either can't relocate or will not want to move because of the expense of living in DC. Remote work is relatively recent at the Board and was first initiated due to space constraints.

I would be interested to know whether they ever told newly hired remote employees that they could be called to come to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expect to be packed into small rooms of around 100 people so close to each other that are they almost touching each other. Expect IT issues. Expect constant noise from 100 people shuffling around, talking, and getting up to pee all day long. Expect disgruntled employees getting angry and causing a scene. Welcome to your new hell.

No need for such a negative outlook. On the bright side, working in close proximity to others would likely create new friendships and romances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expect to be packed into small rooms of around 100 people so close to each other that are they almost touching each other. Expect IT issues. Expect constant noise from 100 people shuffling around, talking, and getting up to pee all day long. Expect disgruntled employees getting angry and causing a scene. Welcome to your new hell.

No need for such a negative outlook. On the bright side, working in close proximity to others would likely create new friendships and romances.

Yea, lets hit on all our hot coworkers when they are trapped next to us for 8 hours a day on production. I think you are required to do this now if you want to get promoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for responding. I agree that many people either can't relocate or will not want to move because of the expense of living in DC. Remote work is relatively recent at the Board and was first initiated due to space constraints.

I would be interested to know whether they ever told newly hired remote employees that they could be called to come to DC.

I was hired in 2023. The job was listed as remote, not telework. I live many states away. No one has ever intimated we were at any risk of being called back in person to DC (not that this matters). In fact, it was emphasized that the Board had been telework/remote since before COVID. I have never lived in or near DMV. My VLJ is also in a different state nowhere near DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

This ^. Read what they’re actually saying to the media. They’re explicitly saying they want to force people to quit. I think, obviously, you shouldn’t quit because you could be giving up your rights — severance, unemployment (who knows what the job market will look like with these clowns in charge), the union taking action on your behalf. It’ll be interesting to see how management responds. Given how they treated the union last time, I doubt they’ll be trying to protect Board employees but will be more interested in self preservation & looking loyal to their new boss. I look forward to what the union says at the upcoming meeting and hearing their action plan. As I see it, our telework agreements are contracts for which we relied on when we went remote in our locations. & these clowns have openly stated their reasons for this apparent upcoming EO, and it’s not a legitimate reason. It’s simply indefensible. But who knows what will happen. Things could change but from what I’m reading now, they want an executive order on day 1 to return to DC. Though, our new boss has also said he wants to move parts of the federal government out of DC, decentralize it. There’s a reason for this — make VA less blue. Also, the reason for crashing the economy — they make money when they do it. Stocks become cheap. They’re selling billions in stocks now. These oligarch billionaires are ready to become trillionaires. Also, they’re trying to break the government to destroy what they see as the deep state. They want to install their people. Even your job likely through a loyalty test and little to no POCs, lgbtq, etc. They have stated this. They don’t like the fact the government is multicultural, diverse. They went to destroy this. One thing I’d like to see our union do is educate the public about how important federal employees are to the lives of Americans and that we’re hardworking through reaching out to the media. They want us to be scared and they want us to quit. Let them fire you. This is a form of protest. Contact your local media and call your representatives. Have your friends and family do the same thing. Maybe we’ll dodge this bullet, but they seem hellbent on making it happen.

Okay, point taken. However, assuming half the people do agree to move to Washington to keep their job, VA will have to get more space to accommodate them. Several hundred Board employees are not going to fit in a few cubicles at 425 Eye Street.

I understand, and I should’ve been clear my point is for people, most likely all fully remote, who can’t come back to DC because they can’t afford to move to DC, have mortgages, need to be close to family or their community for whatever reasons, don’t want to move schools, etc., & relied on their employer’s promise they can do their job remotely.

Thanks for responding. I agree that many people either can't relocate or will not want to move because of the expense of living in DC. Remote work is relatively recent at the Board and was first initiated due to space constraints.

I would be interested to know whether they ever told newly hired remote employees that they could be called to come to DC.

No problem. I would also add that I believe your telework agreement allows for grievance/review panel, so to that extent, I don’t think you can be fired right away for not moving to DC. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong or add to that point. It could be you have until your TW agreement expires in the year. Who knows how they’ll be able to implement things. This is why I also think quitting likely won’t do you any favors. We don’t know what the future holds. It could be none of this transpires; though, they’ve said they have the Project 2025 EOs ready for signature now. The midterms are coming up & assuming we still have free and fair elections, and they do some of the worst, the economy will recede and people will likely vote democratic. All of this could lead to you getting your job back or some kind of restitution. One more wrinkle in all of this is they said they do not want to raise the debt ceiling & force a default. I don’t know how they can do this without a government shutdown. If I remember correctly, I think Trump had the longest one or one of, and he was feeling the pressure as we were getting to where no SS or other benefit checks were going to go out. Also something that’ll impact the economy are these tariffs (something else they say they have ready for day 1) in addition to the “rounding up” immigrants who are imo the backbone of this country. Who will do their jobs? They must know this will impact labor everywhere, so it’s scary to think what they’re planning as their remedy.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/16/trump-wants-fire-federal-workers-return-office-cal/

All federal employees are to return to the office or be dismissed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/16/trump-wants-fire-federal-workers-return-office-cal/

All federal employees are to return to the office or be dismissed.

That’s not what the article you linked says

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/16/trump-wants-fire-federal-workers-return-office-cal/

All federal employees are to return to the office or be dismissed.

If only there were offices for 1000+ staffers to return to at the BVA...

[Anonymous]

I doubt this will just apply the social security employees. Remote work is going away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/16/trump-wants-fire-federal-workers-return-office-cal/

All federal employees are to return to the office or be dismissed.

If only there were offices for 1000+ staffers to return to at the BVA...

Do we really need 1000+ GS13/14 attorneys to adjudicate disability cases? Why not create an AI program to adjudicate straightforward service connection cases? AI can scan medical records and draft a decision. For the complex cases, we can retain a cadre of 250 or so attorneys to do the heavy lifting. I’m going tweet my recommendation to Elon and Vivek and the DOGE leaders in Congress and perhaps the Heritage Foundation. I believe my recommendation will save taxpayers millions of dollars.

[Anonymous]

If the AI approves all the claims, sure. I doubt that the veterans will accept denials written by AI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the AI approves all the claims, sure. I doubt that the veterans will accept denials written by AI.

As you know, some VLJs at the Board have approval rates well over 90 percent.

[Anonymous]

It should probably be 100 percent. The law is super generous and you can appeal forever. The denials are rarely defensible in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should probably be 100 percent. The law is super generous and you can appeal forever. The denials are rarely defensible in court.

All the reason to have AI do most of the adjudication at the Board.

[Anonymous]

The one troll on here who couldn’t hack it at the Board. Maybe you should be sharing your resume with potential employers rather than sharing your silly opinions here.