Anonymous wrote:Comical and sad, as the employees aren’t the only ones who are being hurt. While the Chairman tells Congress that Board attorneys review tens of thousands of pages of evidence AND write a decision every 10 hours, the reality on the ground is that Board attorneys only review 10 percent or so of the record in each case.

Management knows of this practice, as new attorneys are told by the training staff to only review the most recent evidence and ignore the thousands of other pages in the case file. That’s the dirty little secret that Board attorneys know and try to tell Congress, but Congress ignores.

It’s comical that the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims remands 80 percent of BVA decisions due to errors in law and fact. Just think about that - out of every 100 BVA decisions, 80 of them are erroneous. The result is that VA cases are stuck in an endless cycle of remands that take decades to resolve. It’s also a huge waste of taxpayer money. I’ve seen so many veterans die before the conclusion of their case. But, management doesn’t care. It’s all a numbers game.

https://westdunn.com/va-law/stanford-study-shows-bvas-accuracy-claims-are-misleading

https://news.stanford.edu/2019/03/06/new-research-finds-flaws-veterans-claims-system/

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/432196-when-the-va-misrepresents-performance-veterans-suffer

https://siepr.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/19-005.pdf

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I received the same advice when I joined the Board - see something, say nothing.

I hate that upper managers at BVA, most of whom have no military experience, run the place like the military (or rather their messed up view of the military).

While the real military is making strides in addressing sexual harassment and discrimination in the ranks, BVA management turns a blind eye to managers who engage in discrimination and sexual harassment and retaliates against employees who report the misconduct.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case you can’t access William’s case using the link above, here’s a direct link to decision on the EEOC website.

https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/2020_12_07/2019003149.pdf

I can’t believe pro-union Biden is going to keep allowing this kind of mismanagement continue. Maybe his team hasn’t received the memo? I guess only numbers matter and not employees.

I have no doubt that the new VA Secretary will do his best to improve employee relations at the agency; however, we’ve seen this story play out before. During the Obama Administration, then Secretary McDonald installed a reformer at the Board to address the rampant culture of discrimination and sexual harassment. Carol was a great leader. She worked very hard to address these problems and allowed employees to voice concerns without fear. While Carol was in charge, the career VA managers parroted Carol’s actions and words. And, the known sexual harassers at the Board laid low. But, when Carol left in January 2017 with the change in administration, the management returned to their old ways.

I fear for anyone at the Board who reports discrimination or sexual harassment to management. Ask the union about the problem managers and judges. If history is any guide, upper management will not discipline any manager or judge who has engaged in discrimination or harassment, unless the victims are upper managers (i.e., the Forum of Hate scandal, where five judges and attorneys were fired/forced to resign after they made racial slurs about upper managers). There can be no lasting change without removing the problem career managers and judges.

Forum of Hate Scandal: https://abovethelaw.com/2020/07/forum-of-hate-emails-lead-to-suspensions-because-yeah-theyre-bad/

It does not appear that Biden or the Secretary plan on replacing the current BVA Chair. Numbers numbers numbers. Apparently, who cares about bad employee morale and ruined careers when you can get numbers?

I’m pretty sure that the Biden Administration isn’t aware of the work environment at the Board. People who haven’t worked at the Board will never understand how terrible the place. Yes, there are many terrible work environments, but the things BVA management does to destroy those who report discrimination or sexual harassment is truly next level.

For anyone experiencing discrimination or harassment at the Board, I urge you to go through the EEO Office. Do not go through the VA Harassment Prevention Office. While the Harassment Prevention Office seems to do their best to help, they have no power to stop BVA management from firing you for reporting harassment or discrimination.

Case in point, a probationary BVA attorney contacted the VA Harassment Prevention Office to complain that her judge was constantly harassing her. Following an investigation, the Anti-Harassment Coordinator asked the attorney’s Chief Veterans Law Judge to reassign the attorney to another judge. However, within one week of receiving the transfer request from the Anti-Harassment Coordinator, the attorney’s Chief VLJ fired the attorney using poor performance as a pretext - the attorney had just received a good performance rating on her annual appraisal.. Shortly thereafter, upper management promoted the Chief VLJ to the ranks of upper management. Because the attorney who was fired was probationary, she could not appeal the firing. She has been unable to find a job as attorney. BVA ended her legal career.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case you can’t access William’s case using the link above, here’s a direct link to decision on the EEOC website.

https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/2020_12_07/2019003149.pdf

I can’t believe pro-union Biden is going to keep allowing this kind of mismanagement continue. Maybe his team hasn’t received the memo? I guess only numbers matter and not employees.

I have no doubt that the new VA Secretary will do his best to improve employee relations at the agency; however, we’ve seen this story play out before. During the Obama Administration, then Secretary McDonald installed a reformer at the Board to address the rampant culture of discrimination and sexual harassment. Carol was a great leader. She worked very hard to address these problems and allowed employees to voice concerns without fear. While Carol was in charge, the career VA managers parroted Carol’s actions and words. And, the known sexual harassers at the Board laid low. But, when Carol left in January 2017 with the change in administration, the management returned to their old ways.

I fear for anyone at the Board who reports discrimination or sexual harassment to management. Ask the union about the problem managers and judges. If history is any guide, upper management will not discipline any manager or judge who has engaged in discrimination or harassment, unless the victims are upper managers (i.e., the Forum of Hate scandal, where five judges and attorneys were fired/forced to resign after they made racial slurs about upper managers). There can be no lasting change without removing the problem career managers and judges.

Forum of Hate Scandal: https://abovethelaw.com/2020/07/forum-of-hate-emails-lead-to-suspensions-because-yeah-theyre-bad/

It does not appear that Biden or the Secretary plan on replacing the current BVA Chair. Numbers numbers numbers. Apparently, who cares about bad employee morale and ruined careers when you can get numbers?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case you can’t access William’s case using the link above, here’s a direct link to decision on the EEOC website.

https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/2020_12_07/2019003149.pdf

I can’t believe pro-union Biden is going to keep allowing this kind of mismanagement continue. Maybe his team hasn’t received the memo? I guess only numbers matter and not employees.

I have no doubt that the new VA Secretary will do his best to improve employee relations at the agency; however, we’ve seen this story play out before. During the Obama Administration, then Secretary McDonald installed a reformer at the Board to address the rampant culture of discrimination and sexual harassment. Carol was a great leader. She worked very hard to address these problems and allowed employees to voice concerns without fear. While Carol was in charge, the career VA managers parroted Carol’s actions and words. And, the known sexual harassers at the Board laid low. But, when Carol left in January 2017 with the change in administration, the management returned to their old ways.

I fear for anyone at the Board who reports discrimination or sexual harassment to management. Ask the union about the problem managers and judges. If history is any guide, upper management will not discipline any manager or judge who has engaged in discrimination or harassment, unless the victims are upper managers (i.e., the Forum of Hate scandal, where five judges and attorneys were fired/forced to resign after they made racial slurs about upper managers). There can be no lasting change without removing the problem career managers and judges.

Forum of Hate Scandal: https://abovethelaw.com/2020/07/forum-of-hate-emails-lead-to-suspensions-because-yeah-theyre-bad/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case you can’t access William’s case using the link above, here’s a direct link to decision on the EEOC website.

https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/2020_12_07/2019003149.pdf

I can’t believe pro-union Biden is going to keep allowing this kind of mismanagement continue. Maybe his team hasn’t received the memo? I guess only numbers matter and not employees.

Anonymous wrote:In case you can’t access William’s case using the link above, here’s a direct link to decision on the EEOC website.

https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/decisions/2020_12_07/2019003149.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
.... It’s not that hard to avoid getting fired.

Signed,

Former BVA attorney who left for another agency

+1

For those considering BVA, keep your eyes open and use your critical thinking skills. If you are on a bad team and they think you are a complainer and aren’t helping you, keep job searching. If you hate working there, keep job searching. If you aren’t getting along with your judge or SSC, keep job searching. They say you have one year but if they aren’t going to retain you, they might start the paperwork as early as month 8. Read the signs and get moving before that if it is not working out for you. Good luck! For some people, it’s a good fit; if it’s not, don’t stick around.

Anonymous wrote:
.... It’s not that hard to avoid getting fired.

Signed,

Former BVA attorney who left for another agency

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Its better than doc review and you can still apply for other jobs while working at the BVA or SSA for that matter. Some folks have transferred from BVA to Office of General Counsel at Veterans or other agenices.

BVA is a trap job for doc reviewers. Yes, BVA is better than doc review in terms of salary. But, BVA forces a large percentage of new attorneys to resign within months of starting the job. So these attorneys end up back at doc review, but with the addition of a forced termination on their record. Not a good outcome in my view.

I think you are still better off trying it if you can. Even if you do resign (and that's not a forgone conclusion), you will at least have time on your resume as a (closer to) real attorney than doc reviewer.

Many doc reviewers do take the jump to BVA. Some succeed at BVA but for those who don’t, their future career paths in the federal government are limited as many federal agencies, such as the Postal Service, expressly forbid they hiring of former federal employees who left the government due to termination or forced resignation.

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.

Signed,

Former BVA attorney who left for another agency

If the job is so easy, why are so many Board attorneys fearful about losing their jobs? Just take a look at the employee survey from 2018.

DP. It could be there are a lot of bad attorneys at the Board. If that logical option alluded you, I could see why the law could present some problems.

Spend a day in a courtroom, you'll see a lot of bad attorneys there too, some who can barely string together 3 coherent sentences. Or do any kind of job where you interact with a bunch of attorneys. Some are good, some are horrible. any moron can graduate law school and pass the bar.