Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

This place is a meat grinder. In order to survive more than 2 years you will definitely work unpaid overtime and lose many nights of sleep worrying about getting fired. That's if you're lucky and have a reasonable judge. If you have a terrible judge you will lose even more sleep and work even more uncompensated hours redoing cases for minor issues. Then you'll feel isolated and gaslighted and start to believe that you are indeed a stupid person and a terrible attorney. It's an awful existence. The sad part is that there are a lot of very smart attorneys there who joined for the right reasons and become demoralized. Ultimately, in addition to the attorneys, it is the Veterans who suffer from the way this place is run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This place is a meat grinder. In order to survive more than 2 years you will definitely work unpaid overtime and lose many nights of sleep worrying about getting fired. That's if you're lucky and have a reasonable judge. If you have a terrible judge you will lose even more sleep and work even more uncompensated hours redoing cases for minor issues. Then you'll feel isolated and gaslighted and start to believe that you are indeed a stupid person and a terrible attorney. It's an awful existence. The sad part is that there are a lot of very smart attorneys there who joined for the right reasons and become demoralized. Ultimately, in addition to the attorneys, it is the Veterans who suffer from the way this place is run.

+1

I could not have said this better myself.

[Anonymous]

The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

I believe they claimed they were in settlement discussions. like 3 years ago.....this is a very good question for the Union to answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

When Board attorneys work unpaid overtime on the down low to meet the quota, they allow management to claim that the quota is reasonably and attainable. Unfortunately, that, in turn, causes management to increase the quota even more, which starts a vicious cycle of ever increasing unpaid overtime and quotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

When Board attorneys work unpaid overtime on the down low to meet the quota, they allow management to claim that the quota is reasonably and attainable. Unfortunately, that, in turn, causes management to increase the quota even more, which starts a vicious cycle of ever increasing unpaid overtime and quotas.

Management has pulled an even more sinister trick since the pandemic. There used to be an unwritten rule that you couldn't submit a case on weekends so that management can maintain their plausible deniability that unpaid overtime is a regular thing at the Board. Now that they have suspended "core hours," you are free to work as many (unpaid) nights and weekends as you want in order to make quota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

When Board attorneys work unpaid overtime on the down low to meet the quota, they allow management to claim that the quota is reasonably and attainable. Unfortunately, that, in turn, causes management to increase the quota even more, which starts a vicious cycle of ever increasing unpaid overtime and quotas.

Management has pulled an even more sinister trick since the pandemic. There used to be an unwritten rule that you couldn't submit a case on weekends so that management can maintain their plausible deniability that unpaid overtime is a regular thing at the Board. Now that they have suspended "core hours," you are free to work as many (unpaid) nights and weekends as you want in order to make quota.

Don’t overwork yourself to death to serve veterans. There are a number of unofficial shortcuts (but nevertheless condoned by management) that you can take to help you meet the quota. Just ask around. Let the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims deal with the sloppy decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

When Board attorneys work unpaid overtime on the down low to meet the quota, they allow management to claim that the quota is reasonably and attainable. Unfortunately, that, in turn, causes management to increase the quota even more, which starts a vicious cycle of ever increasing unpaid overtime and quotas.

Management has pulled an even more sinister trick since the pandemic. There used to be an unwritten rule that you couldn't submit a case on weekends so that management can maintain their plausible deniability that unpaid overtime is a regular thing at the Board. Now that they have suspended "core hours," you are free to work as many (unpaid) nights and weekends as you want in order to make quota.

Don’t overwork yourself to death to serve veterans. There are a number of unofficial shortcuts (but nevertheless condoned by management) that you can take to help you meet the quota. Just ask around. Let the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims deal with the sloppy decisions.

easier said than done when you have a judge who cares about JMRs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only overtime at the Board now is unpaid overtime. Paid overtime is gone because why do you need that when you can raise the quota and force everyone to work unpaid overtime and overshoot the agency’s own yearly goal. Does anyone know what happened to that unpaid overtime lawsuit?

When Board attorneys work unpaid overtime on the down low to meet the quota, they allow management to claim that the quota is reasonably and attainable. Unfortunately, that, in turn, causes management to increase the quota even more, which starts a vicious cycle of ever increasing unpaid overtime and quotas.

Management has pulled an even more sinister trick since the pandemic. There used to be an unwritten rule that you couldn't submit a case on weekends so that management can maintain their plausible deniability that unpaid overtime is a regular thing at the Board. Now that they have suspended "core hours," you are free to work as many (unpaid) nights and weekends as you want in order to make quota.

Don’t overwork yourself to death to serve veterans. There are a number of unofficial shortcuts (but nevertheless condoned by management) that you can take to help you meet the quota. Just ask around. Let the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims deal with the sloppy decisions.

easier said than done when you have a judge who cares about JMRs.

True. Your VLJ really makes or breaks your experience at the BVA. If the judge wants a long, detailed decision, you've got no choice but to write that. No clear and concise writing for you! Welcome to more unpaid overtime, and there's nothing you can do about it.

[Anonymous]

Have you filed IG reports? Might be a good time to do in a new Administration, and can be done anonymously. Most importantly, it provides an additional paper trail and awareness, particularly if the MO is that the Board makes you do a lot of stuff under the pretense that they dont realize you're doign so much unpaid overtime. You shoudl also be writing to the Veterans Committee's on the staff. It's about creating a paper trail of awareness. People don't want to be informed of this - in writing - and then do nothing to investigate it, particularly as this is egregious and deals with Veterans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you filed IG reports? Might be a good time to do in a new Administration, and can be done anonymously. Most importantly, it provides an additional paper trail and awareness, particularly if the MO is that the Board makes you do a lot of stuff under the pretense that they dont realize you're doign so much unpaid overtime. You shoudl also be writing to the Veterans Committee's on the staff. It's about creating a paper trail of awareness. People don't want to be informed of this - in writing - and then do nothing to investigate it, particularly as this is egregious and deals with Veterans.

The Union at the Board has reached out to members of Congress numerous times, but things have gotten worse.

Link to letter to Congress from Union: https://www.afge.org/contentassets/a91c998d3be44362a75c5c67c60852f7/loss-of-confidence-statement.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you filed IG reports? Might be a good time to do in a new Administration, and can be done anonymously. Most importantly, it provides an additional paper trail and awareness, particularly if the MO is that the Board makes you do a lot of stuff under the pretense that they dont realize you're doign so much unpaid overtime. You shoudl also be writing to the Veterans Committee's on the staff. It's about creating a paper trail of awareness. People don't want to be informed of this - in writing - and then do nothing to investigate it, particularly as this is egregious and deals with Veterans.

The Union at the Board has reached out to members of Congress numerous times, but things have gotten worse.

Link to letter to Congress from Union: https://www.afge.org/contentassets/a91c998d3be44362a75c5c67c60852f7/loss-of-confidence-statement.pdf

As the above poster said, congress is well aware of what goes on. One Republican member even commented on it in a hearing with the Board Chairman.

They just don’t care.

[Anonymous]

What's the problem with erring on the side of awarding benefits? No need to explain as much since the veteran unlikely to appeal. That is how SSA writers make quota. Not trying to downplay how bad it is at VA but just want to understand why the shortcuts that work elsewhere don't work there. Is there more sua sponte review even of grants? More statistical QC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the problem with erring on the side of awarding benefits? No need to explain as much since the veteran unlikely to appeal. That is how SSA writers make quota. Not trying to downplay how bad it is at VA but just want to understand why the shortcuts that work elsewhere don't work there. Is there more sua sponte review even of grants? More statistical QC?

BVA judges don't like granting too many cases because a high grant rate could put the judge on upper management's radar. The preferred method to meet the quota is to remand as many cases as possible, as remands are much easier to write and count as a closed case. Unfortunately, this remand at all cost mentality harms veterans because their cases remain unresolved for decades. I've seen a number of veterans die in the interim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the problem with erring on the side of awarding benefits? No need to explain as much since the veteran unlikely to appeal. That is how SSA writers make quota. Not trying to downplay how bad it is at VA but just want to understand why the shortcuts that work elsewhere don't work there. Is there more sua sponte review even of grants? More statistical QC?

BVA judges don't like granting too many cases because a high grant rate could put the judge on upper management's radar. The preferred method to meet the quota is to remand as many cases as possible, as remands are much easier to write and count as a closed case. Unfortunately, this remand at all cost mentality harms veterans because their cases remain unresolved for decades. I've seen a number of veterans die in the interim.

Unfortunately you get all kinds of judges. Some are grant oriented and will bend over backwards to grant claims, some are the opposite and will bend over backwards to deny, and some hate denying so they will remand everything, but I’d say most are just trying to get by and will find the path of least resistance. Unfortunately as a decision writing attorney the disposition of your assigned judge is completely out of your control. You’re not an independent professional given latitude to do what you think is right. You’re more like a nameless faceless drone whose job is to make your judge happy and spit out as many decisions as possible.