Reply to Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]With this new wave of hiring at the BVA, what is the general consensus amongst current employees? Are work conditions getting better, worse, or staying the same?[/quote]

My feeling is that has always been a hostile work environment perpetuated by management.  Individual judges may vary.  [/quote]

I agree. Believe it or not, the quota is not the worst part about working at BVA. Experiences at BVA vary greatly depending on the judge you are assigned to. If you get assigned to a nice judge who prefers decisions that are two to three pages long, you will have no problem meeting the quota. You’ll likely exceed the quota, and management will love you.

However, if you get assigned to a mean/rude judge and/or a judge who wants thorough 10-20 page decisions, your experience at the Board will be vastly different. Attorneys who are assigned to these judges generally work far in excess of 40 hours a week. While most judges at the Board are decent people who just want to get the job done, about 20 or so judges at the Board have reputations for being toxic. The chance that you’ll get assigned to a toxic judge is relatively high.

The worst part about working at the Board is that upper management routinely denies request to transfer away from the toxic judges - management denies transfer requests because they know that if they grant the requests, no one would want to work for the bully judges. If you complain about bullying and/or harassment, management set you up to fail and treat you so badly that you’ll resign. [/quote]

This is true.  This problem has existed for 20+ years and will likely exist for 20+ more.  Management just does not care.  Their response is just to tell you to quit, and you'll be replaced with another brand-new law school graduate.  Can't wait to see all those new judges come onboard with absolutely no experience in veterans law.  That's going to be fun.  [/quote]

How long ago did you leave? It isn’t like that anymore. Every work environment has some toxic bosses. It’s a good job for some people (even that years old survey had less than half even responding) - those who can work independently, like the benefits of telework and remote work options. If the job is a bad fit, move on (and read the room, get out if you aren’t going to be able to make production; hint if you’re on a good team and are a good worker, they will help you make production. If they don’t like you, they won’t help you. Definitely have to watch your reputation). 
[/quote]

NP here. Nearly 400 Board attorneys responded to the FY2018 union survey. While I agree that less than half of the Board's attorney staff responded to that survey, 400 is still a large number. When nearly 400 Board attorneys complain about the work environment, perhaps that's indicative of something more than just "some toxic bosses"? I also agree that some Board attorneys like working at the Board because of benefits such as telework and remote options; however, I'm pretty sure that those attorneys are assigned to judges who are supportive and protective of their attorneys. A large percentage of Board judges are not like that. Hence the reason for the high attrition rates at the Board. Even if you like your judge, there's no guarantee that you'll stay with that judge, as management changes team assignments from time to time.

FY2018 union survey: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A4dc55b1b-80ed-4b2c-9e0a-155be961d998#pageNum=111[/quote]

If you’re a bad enough attorney to get fired from the board, being an attorney is probably not the job for you. It’s not that hard to avoid getting fired. 
[/quote]

Don't you have to be a bad attorney to even apply or hear about BVA opportunities? Veterans law (or whatever you call it) isn't discussed in law school or even mentioned by career services. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics