Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys really care if someone has their diploma or bar admission on their wall? Who gives a shit? Doesn't matter if they went to George Mason, George Washington, Georgetown, Florida International, or if they went they went to Kaplan or whatever school it was that created an online JD. A diploma is a diploma, and a degree is something to be proud of.

If you're shaming someone for putting a diploma on their wall, you are the problem. It is your problem that you're insecure that you are working at the same low-satisfaction ranked agency as folks from lower ranked schools. Maybe you should have worked harder and done better during OCI. Spend some time working on your anxiety over your situation, and less shit talking your hard working colleagues.

I don't think anyone cares. The reference to diplomas on the wall goes back to a troll post quoted above. The person hates the Board for some reason and spends a lot of time on insult posts about Board employees and their work.

The vast majority of criticisms about the Board in this thread relate to the toxic work environment. These are legitimate criticisms. You all need to stop focusing on the handful of sarcastic comments from one or two “trolls” and focus more on how to improve the work environment.

No one is "focusing" on the diploma troll, also known as the troll who thinks writing a 5 page SOC is the same as writing a 40 page decision.

Trust me, the Board has always had a challenging work environment due to the nature of production. The answer is to get on with it and be happy you have a secure job or find another place to work.

If you are actively being discriminated against file an EEO complaint or grievance or invest in a private attorney. You are not going to find a ton of sympathy for slowing down the work requirements in an agency that consistently has a backlog in the thousands.

Let’s be real, most BVA decisions are three to five pages long. Few decisions are more than 10 pages long. I’ve never seen a 40 page long BVA decision.

And, improving the toxic work environment at BVA doesn’t mean slowing down the work. Those two goals are not mutually inconsistent.
There’s a reason why BVA is near the bottom of work force quality of life surveys. But, on the bright side, BVA ranks higher than the Bureau of Prisons

You must have had a lot of CAVC remands on your crappy 3-5 page decisions before you were dismissed, likely for insufficient reasons and bases. Mine are only that short if it’s a dismissal. No wonder you didn’t make it. Good luck at the Bureau of Prisons!

+1

[Anonymous]

https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/

VA fired 1,000 probationary employees, including excepted service. Was BVA exempt?

[Anonymous]

I think Board attorneys should have been exempt because we are mission critical but it would be great if a probationary employee could confirm they weren’t fired last night. God knows Board management won’t tell us anything - or maybe can’t is the better word.

But I heard through the impeccably reliable channel of Reddit that a probationary attorney at the CAVC was laid off, which shocked me. So who knows - either Reddit is wrong or the CAVC isn’t mission critical for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Board attorneys should have been exempt because we are mission critical but it would be great if a probationary employee could confirm they weren’t fired last night. God knows Board management won’t tell us anything - or maybe can’t is the better word.

But I heard through the impeccably reliable channel of Reddit that a probationary attorney at the CAVC was laid off, which shocked me. So who knows - either Reddit is wrong or the CAVC isn’t mission critical for some reason.

Haven’t seen the CAVC redditor post. We are considered mission-critical (insofar as we don’t stop working during shut-downs and we’re exempt from FORK).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Board attorneys should have been exempt because we are mission critical but it would be great if a probationary employee could confirm they weren’t fired last night. God knows Board management won’t tell us anything - or maybe can’t is the better word.

But I heard through the impeccably reliable channel of Reddit that a probationary attorney at the CAVC was laid off, which shocked me. So who knows - either Reddit is wrong or the CAVC isn’t mission critical for some reason.

We are BUE and these lay-offs allegedly only affect non-BUEs. Are CAVC attorneys covered by BU?

[Anonymous]

The Reddit reference to a CAVC attorney being fired was from a comment on a megathread about the firings: https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/Xe7uByuqQn
“ The VA statement is laughable. Friend who works directly with benefits at the VA appeals court was let go along with a group of his colleagues that also started at the same time. He was days from his probation being up. Like less than a week. Interesting how they act like veterans benefits aren’t impacted when this will certainly slow down the process of getting their claims adjudicated.”

It’s possible the commenter was mistaken about what their friend’s exact job was, but that sounds like CAVC to me. I have no idea if CAVC attorneys are covered by the bargaining unit.

[Anonymous]

Found this comment too: https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/erd8StmOA1
“Some of the office of general council people were let go tonight. I think they’re 0905. The one I know works on appeals at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. They had over 60 cases and were days away from the end of probation“

[Anonymous]

BVA probationary 0905. No email. Though, I had a scare when I tried to log in. Computer needed to restart from an overnight update and my VPN connection icon was missing. I figured maybe this was me being fired, but I eventually found the new version of the Cisco VPN buried in the start menu.

Haven't heard of any impacts for decision writing attorneys at BVA yet.

I did hear that some Title 38 folks at VA were included in the probationary folks let go. Which is weird, because Title 38 should be providers.

[Anonymous]

Hearing rumors about VA OGC probationary employees being dismissed. Any word?

[Anonymous]

Any fresh news?

[Anonymous]

I am hearing 10 OGC probationary attorneys fired.

[Anonymous]

Got an email about a new SF50. Figured I was getting screwed with a change of duty station, but was a performance bonus instead. Happy day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got an email about a new SF50. Figured I was getting screwed with a change of duty station, but was a performance bonus instead. Happy day!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got an email about a new SF50. Figured I was getting screwed with a change of duty station, but was a performance bonus instead. Happy day!

+1

Same here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got an email about a new SF50. Figured I was getting screwed with a change of duty station, but was a performance bonus instead. Happy day!

Did yours say how much the bonus was? Mine didn't have that info, or I just missed it.