Department of Veterans Affairs OIG Report Description: On January 31, 2018, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) received allegations that a psychologist at the Temple campus of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System double-coded group therapy sessions and received improper overtime pay. Clinic, and Service Line overtime procedures (both mandatory and voluntary) in effect on October 1, 2012, to the extent that the requested information exists. Any schedule under which a full-time employee fulfills an 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement in less than 10 workdays. Lawsuit accuses Department of Veterans Affairs of failing to pay medical professionals overtime. Stars and Stripes reported last week that overtime has cost about $300,000 every week since the beginning of August, totaling about $4.5 million.. This is about half right. With respect to particularized need, it contends that the Union’s claimed needs were “conclusory” and that the Union did not connect its request to a “pending or potential grievance.” R. Br. However, Kielhack also acknowledged that he did not talk to every department to confirm that they didn’t have their own overtime procedures. However, as discussed above, the claimant began his employment at SEO on July 19, 2009, so the period of this claim commences on that date. Because the witness statements, CATS log data, and his personal calendars do not support the claimant’s assertion he frequently worked during the entire lunch period, he has not met the burden of proof that he performed work during his lunch breaks. However, Marshall indicated that she requested the information based on evidence that several departments did have overtime procedures. 38. Given the preceding information, we find the agency did not willfully violate the Act, and that after receipt of OPM’s decision in the previous claim, it took timely action to correct the FLSA designation of all equal opportunity counselor positions in accordance with OPM’s compliance instructions. Has the claimant produced enough evidence to show the amount and extent of work performed as a matter of reasonable inference? .”. 107. hޜUmO�0�+�B�_�TB�Z� eЖ� �Ch�6R��$����$��h�������w?O"X�0"8#\�� 7ڭ�Ha�ꑾ�}I�డh�}��S:�������ϊ���_�e��ʙ7�`�-� "��4�����A)S:y��0�ɳ�Ԯ��0'�A�W8~$�U��$*vt��$\� ���F���8����TqK���3��Y�ta�պ$Z:����ak���=�}Ĉ`R�D�p'�G�x�R]�?d�m����\~�� ;����������qp3���cV�\��u�o���*%c���x9LW�%��J��N|F�O]���"���(��pb/ ��� managers to find out about their overtime policies, he and the Respondent seem to be living in a pre-computer universe. HOURS OF DUTY AND LEAVE . 5. 217 0 obj <>stream R. Br. Given the fact that two staff members observed the claimant working after hours, the CATS records indicate he logged into CATS numerous times during the claim period before and after work hours, and the team leader received 15 email messages transmitting work products after the claimant’s duty hours, we conclude there is independent corroborating evidence the claimant performed work intermittently before or after his scheduled duty hours. On June 6, 2011, the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary sent another email to all ORM employees advising them that if they believed they were owed FLSA overtime pay, they should submit their claims to ORM’s Human Resources Officer. . Visit our vaccine information page.. For VA-specific information: Read our coronavirus FAQs and public health response, or use our coronavirus chatbot. R. Br. Accordingly, the answer to the first question is yes. Therefore, he may have worked sometime during the two-hour lunch interval and still taken a separate lunch break. Although the claimant’s calendars prepared a few months after he left the SEO office show the times he claimed overtime work at the office, they are not a reliable record because they do not show the actual work performed during the overtime hours claimed. analyze the stated ‘particularized needs’; compile releasable data and prepare a written reply.” GC Ex. State overtime laws generally follow the FLSA with some exceptions. Apply to Assistant, Housekeeper, Customer Service Representative and more! Also in 1989, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims began operation as an independent federal court to which veterans can appeal decisions about benefits claims and entitlements. 2 at 1, 2. Moreover, he requests all monies and interest that would have been gained from: (1) monthly investments into his Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); and (2) the portion of overtime pay that would have been included as part of his salary into his Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) account during the claim period. Marshall wanted to determine which departments and subdivisions at the Medical Center had individualized procedures for overtime (both voluntary and mandatory), as the Police Service did. Because the CATS log does not record a log out time for events, it cannot be determined how much time the claimant may have spent performing each event. At the time the claimant worked in the SEO, it was located at Bay Pines, Florida, in a separate building on the grounds of the Bay Pines DVA medical center. Although the Agency claims that obtaining the information would have been burdensome, the Agency provided virtually no evidence to support that claim. Additionally, although the claimant asserts he worked before his scheduled tour of duty, his calendars begin at 8:00 a.m. and do not reflect starting work any earlier. h�bbd```b``�����YD2ŀ�-`i��&�=L��N�'�ٍYF+y\H2�w����6��ā�D�� ~ r�, All compensatory time may not exceed 240 hours. If you are using assistive technology to view web content, please ensure your settings allow for the page content to update after initial load (this is sometimes called "forms mode"). Three agencies recommended establishing a 13 pay period limitation before and a 13 pay period limitation after for religious compensatory time off, thus providing a 26 pay period total for earnin… In these states federal law applies effect. The third question is whether the Agency violated the Statute by failing to tell the Union that it believed most of the requested information did not exist. In the current Master Agreement, the “Hours of Work and Overtime” provision is Article 21; Section 4A of Article 21 provides, “Overtime shall be distributed in a fair and equitable manner.” GC Ex. Here, the only request for “clarification” was a throwaway line in the Acknowledgement Memo (“The Agency would also like to make available to the union the option of discussing the relevant issues involved in the request prior to any written response.”) (GC Ex. In so finding, I acknowledge that the General Counsel did not specifically assert in the Complaint that the Respondent violated the Statute by failing to inform the Union that the requested information did not exist. revised and updated listing is issued through a new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Handbook, 4671.2 Budget Object Codes (BOC). Another stated the claimant told her he stayed after work to take phone calls, but she never saw him working after hours. Prepare for a visit: Everyone entering our facilities is screened, and visitors are limited. The Authority has found that a union establishes a particularized need where the union states that it needs the information: (1) to assess whether to file a grievance; (2) in connection with a pending grievance; (3) to determine how to support and pursue a grievance; or (4) to assess whether to arbitrate or settle a pending grievance. at 7. In addition, although the CATS entry logs show he sometimes logged onto the system at times between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., no duration is captured and he may have logged on after or before taking his lunch break. By stating that it needed the requested information “in compliance with” the award, the Union put the Agency on notice that it was incorporating the award into its request. Found inside â Page 311And Sparks himself, an ex-Marine, volunteered for service even though it costs him the overtime pay that makes up an ... Veterans have largely prevailed in court, but the Veterans Affairs Department has been fighting to limit benefits. The evidence of record suggests that some sections of the Medical Center did not have their own overtime procedures; thus, at least some of the information requested by the Union did not exist. Three of the claimant’s coworkers stated they saw the claimant working sometime during the two-hour lunch period “window” (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.), but none of the three witnesses could specify the precise time he took lunch, and could not say how often or how long the claimant worked during the two-hour lunch period. As an initial matter, it is clear that the Union was referring to Arbitrator Schmerin’s award when it said it needed the information “in compliance with the Arbitrator’s decision regarding Union review of Overtime Procedures.” GC Ex. VA helps Servicemembers, Veterans, and eligible surviving spouses become homeowners. Veterans Administration employees are often required to be “on call” all hours of a day and do not get paid for breaks. . GC Ex. ”), his omission of the Police Service procedures would at least have been apparent to the Union, allowing the Union to follow up by insisting on getting a copy of the Police Service document if it needed a new copy. As noted above, the CATS log shows that occasionally the claimant entered CATS as late as 8:00 p.m. Therefore, the agency has failed to discharge its statutory duty to keep complete and accurate records of all hours worked. GC Ex. procedures.” GC Ex. Work is “suffered or permitted” if it is performed for the benefit of an agency, whether requested or not, provided that the employee’s supervisor knows or has reason to believe that the work is being performed. The 2017 audit found the King veterans home had not been able to keep additional nursing positions filled, leading to a dramatic increase in overtime and complaints from workers. Each of the five counselors had separate private offices located in two corridors of the building, with the office’s administrative staff located at the front of the office near the entry. This is an unfair labor practice proceeding under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), Chapter 71 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, 5 U.S.C. As relevant here, this portion of the response memo stated: “The union is only entitled to information which actually exists and is maintained in the normal. The grievance was unresolved and went to arbitration before Arbitrator Stephen M. Schmerin, who issued his award on March 26, 2012. Therefore, we conclude the claimant’s calendars cannot be relied on to determine if or when work may have been performed before or after his scheduled duty hours or the amount or extent of any such work. 111. The Respondent argues that Kielhack offered to discuss the request with Marshall, and that Marshall’s failure to take him up on his offer was “fatal” to the Union’s establishment of particularized need. Found inside â Page 710VETERANS AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT Basic pay rates , 38 $ 7455 Continued Civil service , exemptions , 38 87403 Veterans - Continued ... 38 $ 7409 Overtime pay , 38 SS 7453 , 7456 Grades , 38 88 7403 , 7404 Per diem , National Commission on VA ... FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY OALJ 15-52 Office of Administrative Law Judges. Kielhack at least in part, Marshall testified that the Nursing, Medicine, Engineering, and Chaplain services did have overtime policies or procedures applicable to their own employees, and the Respondent did not rebut these specific allegations. Our interview with the claimant’s team leader disclosed that on 17 occasions between September 11, 2009, and July 27, 2010, the team leader received emails with attachments (i.e., Notice of Informal Counseling/Counselor Reports for specific cases) from the claimant after 4:30 p.m. on workdays. . 2. There is no independent corroborating evidence the supervisors did in fact know this was occurring. Found inside â Page 2485106-780 ) , ( 24JY ) Veterans Benefits Act : Committee on Veterans Affairs ' ( House ) ( H.R. 4850 ) ( H. Rept . ... ( 23MY ] National Guard : end the prohibition against overtime pay for military technicians ( see H.R. 4360 ) . c. his supervisors had the opportunity to prevent the work from being performed. For veterans with PTSD, pandemic ‘feels a lot like wartime’. Moreover, the claimant’s calendars do not specify what work he performed during his lunch period. ��nU(�VEw����' ������qx���hH���I$�|��H�Z: �ɴOڧ. Tr. 2. Tr. 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