Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

This job can be a virtual position, but that’s not a guarantee. To qualify for full time telework, you must be able to meet the production quota, which is not easy to do. When I worked at the Board, management forced dozens of my colleagues to resign in lieu of termination. The Board does mass hiring because management does mass firings. Don’t accept the position with the expectation of full time telework; otherwise, your career could end up in shambles like many of colleagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This job can be a virtual position, but that’s not a guarantee. To qualify for full time telework, you must be able to meet the production quota, which is not easy to do. When I worked at the Board, management forced dozens of my colleagues to resign in lieu of termination. The Board does mass hiring because management does mass firings. Don’t accept the position with the expectation of full time telework; otherwise, your career could end up in shambles like many of colleagues.

Wait, attorneys apply to this job and then have to resign for performance issues? Why are people taking this kind of career risk? Are you on some sort of special pay scale?

[Anonymous]

I have heard that the only way to produce on their deadlines is to do completely shoddy cut and paste work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that the only way to produce on their deadlines is to do completely shoddy cut and paste work.

Management expects each attorney to review approximately 2000 to 15000 pages of evidence in each file and write a 10 to 25 page decision within 8-10 hours - that’s what the production standard is based on. In practice, a lot of attorneys take shortcuts such as not reviewing all of the evidence. Attorneys who don’t like to take shortcuts work well in excess of 40 hours/week or they try to grant every case since writing a grant is much easier and faster than denying a case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This job can be a virtual position, but that’s not a guarantee. To qualify for full time telework, you must be able to meet the production quota, which is not easy to do. When I worked at the Board, management forced dozens of my colleagues to resign in lieu of termination. The Board does mass hiring because management does mass firings. Don’t accept the position with the expectation of full time telework; otherwise, your career could end up in shambles like many of colleagues.

Wait, attorneys apply to this job and then have to resign for performance issues? Why are people taking this kind of career risk? Are you on some sort of special pay scale?

People take attorney jobs at the Board because these positions go up to GS-14 unlike other comparable jobs such as at SSA which only goes up to GS-12. When I worked at the Board, I met a lot of former SSA attorneys. Unfortunately, management forced a lot of them to resign. Some of my former colleagues now work as document reviewers; others now live with their parents or rely on their spouses.

[Anonymous]

Omg ? that’s frightening. I previously worked at SSA in a term position and now I’m with HHS as an attorney advisor. I think I just may stay where I am and decline the interview/writing exercise. Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous]

I had no idea sh#tlaw existed in the federal government. Thank you for the insight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently interviewed for this position and took a subsequent writing test. If anyone is in a similar position, have you heard back either way about an offer?

In addition, to those that currently hold this position, could you describe a typical day? Finally, on other websites I've seen a lot of negativity so please share your experience, level of job satisfaction, and anything else you would find helpful for someone interested in this position. Thank you in advance!

If you’re doing doc review or desperately need a job out of law school then I’d take it. However, if you’re right out of law school you’ll need to develop an exit plan to get you out at the 2-3 year mark. If you’re doing doc review then go for it, as you have nothing to risk. The issue is that they fire very quickly at BVA, their quotas are nearly impossible to meet, some of the judges that supervise you are terrible, office environment is terrible, morale is terrible, and statistically you won’t make it past year 1-2.

They do mass hiring frequently, because they do mass firing frequently. Just be warned.

Whaa? Why would the operate an office like this?

So that management can go to the Administration/Congress/the public and claim they are firing underperformers (getting in another dig on federal employees) and also falsely claim they are making the system better for Vets. Win win!

[Anonymous]

I got a writing exercise from the Board a about a week ago. I get scared reading these posts, so I haven't completed it. Does anyone have any general thoughts on the writing exercise? Multiple choice? Essay? Write a memo? Citations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got a writing exercise from the Board a about a week ago. I get scared reading these posts, so I haven't completed it. Does anyone have any general thoughts on the writing exercise? Multiple choice? Essay? Write a memo? Citations?

Don't worry about the writing test - the Board needs warm bodies. The job is yours so long as you are able to write complete sentences. Whether you should take the job is an entirely different matter.

[Anonymous]

Hi

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

I work at VA (not for BVA) and several emails from AFGE about working conditions at BVA have come across my desk over the years. I don't know why anyone would accept a position there unless you are really desperate for work. You don't get the benefits of a secure federal job and a GS 14 is not nearly enough pay for all of the stress and abuse.

[Anonymous]

Overtime, a big incentive to stick with this job imo, is no longer available. Management did away with overtime for the second time in about seven months with little notice recently. With all the new hires, the outlook for overtime probably isn’t that great. It’s also going to be interesting to see if they’ll pause GS-14 promotions (or make them harder) given budget issues that may come as a result of the virus. The workload is absolutely unreasonable, and the attitude is “what have you done for me lately.” The little adjustments that have been given recently (adjusted time for board-wide computer issues, an adjustment to issues, etc.) are crumbs at best or at worse, insulting because they underscore the tone deafness of management. The bright spot is being able to help Veterans, but we can’t carry out our mission effectively until management realizes productivity is completely unreasonable, actually wastes time, and hurts not just attorneys but the Veterans we serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what got me to not apply - 90+ government attorneys publicly signed their name to a "loss of confidence" letter sent to the VA Secretary. https://www.afge.org/contentassets/a91c998d3be44362a75c5c67c60852f7/loss-of-confidence-statement.pdf

I love how the signatures are indistinguishable.... lol