27 JUL SUN 2014 WE TAKE THIS MATTER (OUR PAYCHECKS) -- VERY SERIOUSLY THE VA SYSTEMATICALLY OVERPAYS ITS EMPLOYEES Compare YOUR Actual Work/$$ Pay -- With VA Worker $$ Pay « VA Fraud, Waste, and Abuse The Veterans Affairs is SYSTEMATICALLY OVERPAYING clerks, administrators and other SUPPORT staff, [BUT VA EXECUTIVE STAFF $$ PAY/BONUS IS OKAY/PROPER ??] according to internal audits, draining tens of millions of dollars that could be used instead to ease the VAs ACUTE SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS and nurses. The jobs of some 13,000 [THIRTEEN THOUSAND] VA support staff have been flagged by auditors as potentially MISCLASSIFIED, in many cases resulting in INFLATED SALARIES that have gone UNCORRECTED FOR as long as 14 [FOURTEEN] YEARS [SINCE THE YEAR 2000]. Rather than moving quickly to correct these costly errors, VA OFFICIALS two years ago [ILLEGALLY] HALTED a broad INTERNAL REVIEW -- mandated by federal law. As a result, the overpayments continue. Moreover, in the two years since thousands of misclassified jobs were identified, hundreds of additional positions have been FILLED AT IMPROPERLY HIGH SALARIES. Internal VA documents obtained by The Huffington Post show that between September 2013 and May 2014, for instance, OVERPAYMENTS in annual salaries for the latter [NEW] jobs alone -- came to $24.4 MILLION, NOT COUNTING BENEFITS. [BUT U.S. VETERANS BENEFITS ARE IGNORED, LATE, & TOO EXPENSIVE] In MAY 2014 alone, senior VA classification specialists identified 284 probably misclassified positions newly posted on the federal jobs site, USAJobs. Once filled, those jobs would result in estimated overpayments of $3.3 MILLION PER YEAR. For that amount of money, the VA could instead hire - five neurosurgeons, - 10 psychiatrists and - five suicide prevention case managers at the average salaries currently offered on USAJobs. The pattern continued in JUNE 2014, with more than a quarter million dollars of overpayments involving jobs -- at the Veterans Health Administration [VHA] [WASHINGTON, D.C.] HEADQUARTERS, according to an internal VA report. Perhaps the worst news is that the departments ability to quickly stop this financial outflow is limited [BY CONGRESSIONAL LAW]. Even if the IMPROPER PAY grades are EVENTUALLY downgraded, VA officials said that employees will be able BY [BAD] LAW to keep their higher salaries, meaning the VA will be saddled with these excessive costs for YEARS. [WHOSE JOB IS IT TO REPEAL/CHANGE BAD LAW ?? -- U.S. CONGRESS] Almost all of the newly documented overpaid wages and salaries involve employees of the VHA [VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION], the section of the Department of Veterans Affairs that operates - 150 major medical centers [HOSPITALS] and - 820 community [LOCAL] health clinics [MEDICAL OFFICES] on a budget this year of $55.2 BILLION [$$ 55,200,000,000]. It was INSIDE THE VHA -- that the waiting-list scandal erupted this spring 2014, after investigations revealed that VHA employees were SYSTEMATICALLY HIDING the requests of some 57,000 VETERANS for medical appointments that couldnt be scheduled -- because of the shortage of MEDICAL staff [NOT ENOUGH DOCTORS AND NURSES]. Scheduling clerks and other administrative staff have said they KEPT THE LISTS SECRET -- for fear of reprisal by superiors. The VAs MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS [SUCH AS U.S. ARMY MAJ NIDAL HASSAN, MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ??] are hired and paid under a SEPARATE accounting and oversight system from the administrative staff, and there is no indication of systematic overpayments to doctors, nurses or other health care providers. [PROVIDERS ?? -- I THOUGHT THEY WERE PROFESSIONALS] The WIDESPREAD misclassification of jobs has created a deep and systemic problem at the VA that will require massive job and pay turbulence to resolve -- and will surely set off angry protests within the ranks. The General Schedule, or GS, sets pay grades and rates for ALL federal employees. Even if they keep their higher pay, the loss of a GS grade can affect employees future promotions and retirement pay. [AW, SHUCKS] Evidently alarmed at that looming employee reaction, [BUT IGNORING THE SICK VETERANS REACTION] SENIOR OFFICIALS at VA HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON two years ago ORDERED A HALT to ANY REVIEW AND CORRECTION of misclassified jobs that might lead to LOWERED [BUT NOT, TO INCREASED] pay grades and smaller salaries. Paula Molloy, the senior official at the VAs Office of Human Resources Management handling the issue, told HuffPost that once the VA begins to examine the misclassified jobs, it will be at least 15 months before any corrective action could be taken. We are not going to be able to do these reviews overnight, she said. [THEY NEVER DO ANYTHING OVERNIGHT -- EXCEPT MAIL PAYCHECKS] That means VA communications CLERKS, for instance, WILL KEEP RECEIVING OVERPAYMENTS. These jobs were misclassified above the proper civil service grade in 2003. ALL such clerks across the VA have been overpaid since then, at a total cost of - $33,715 FOR EACH CLERK in the last decade. Checks will also continue to go out for AIR CONDITIONER equipment OPERATORS [??] who were improperly classified in 2000, resulting in overpayments for each of those jobs of - $67,172 [FOR EACH AIR CONDITIONER ??] over the past 14 years. The VA has not stopped advertising jobs at inflated grades, according to internal documents. In May 2014, for instance, VHA managers at the ORLANDO, FLORIDA, VA medical center advertised on USAJobs for two supply technician positions at a GS-7 LEVEL, which pays roughly $39,000 A YEAR. But senior classification specialists found the ACTUAL [REAL] work should have been classified at a GS-5 LEVEL, at roughly $31,000 A YEAR. The recurring, annual overpayment for just those TWO employees: $15,048. In another case in May 2014, VHA managers at the regional administrative center in Albany, New York, offered a health systems specialist job at GS-14 [LEVEL], which pays $96,948 A YEAR in base salary. The classification specialists examined the job offer and determined that it described a GS-12 [LEVEL] position paying $69,000 [A YEAR]. Annual overpayment: $27,679, according to an internal VA spreadsheet. Altogether, senior VA classification specialists identified 284 probable misclassified jobs newly posted for hire during May 2014 alone, which would lead to estimated overpayments of $3.3 million per year. Once people are hired into these jobs, U.S. FEDERAL LAW PROTECTS THEIR INFLATED SALARIES. An employee whose position is downgraded to correct a GS misclassification will continue to receive the original, higher salary. Their pay is protected, Molloy told HuffPost, because it is no fault of the employee that the position was misclassified. [ITS NOBODYS FAULT -- IT JUST HAPPENED] The problem of the thousands of current misclassified employees will be resolved through attrition, said Molloy. [THE PROBLEM OF TOO MANY VETERANS WILL BE RESOLVED THROUGH ATTRITION -- ☠THE VETERANS DIE☠] » [Source: Huff Post | David Wood | Jul 10, 2014 ++]
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:56:53 +0000
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