VA furloughs some 7,000

Correction: The regional Veterans Benefits Administration office in Arkansas is in North Little Rock. The wrong location was given in this article.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs furloughed more than 7,000 employees nationwide Tuesday because of the continuing government shutdown, a move that a federal employee group says will add to an already big backlog of unprocessed claims from veterans.

That included 62 workers at its Veterans Benefits Administration regional office in Little Rock. The reduced workforce means that benefit claims can’t be filed in person and appeals won’t be handled until employees return to work.

The Arkansas facility has 176 employees, 114 of whom were considered essential and retained.

Staff members at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville are also considered federal employees, but VA medical centers, clinics and other health services have advanced appropriations for 2014 and will remain open, said Little Rock VA Regional Office spokesman Kim Godeaux.

“The employees that were sent home are not directly involved in the processing of the claims. While their jobs are essential to other aspects of our operation and mission, our primary concern at the moment is processing claims for our veterans,” Godeaux said.

The furlough does not include employees at the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, but the state department is hindered by the move because its clients - the veterans - who file claims or appeals through the federal regional benefits administration office won’t be seen face to face for interviews or hearings.

“The regional office is still processing claims. Their essential employees are here in the building working claims, but they are not working appeals,” said Charles Johnson, deputy director of the state veterans agency.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs already had a significant backlog in processing claims nationwide before the shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees issued a news release urging the Congress to come to an agreement on the department’s funding because the latest VA furloughs will just continue the backlog.

“The VA backlog has an unacceptable number of veterans waiting for benefits decisions and the lockout of the very people who help to process those claims is only going to make a bad situation worse,” said the organization’s president, David Cox Sr.

Cox noted that many veterans have been waiting more than a year for their claims to be decided without any other source of income.

The Veterans Benefits Administration has said that all veterans will stop receiving benefits if the shutdown continues into late October, when funding is expected to be depleted.

“This is a lose-lose scenario for federal employees and the veterans we serve. … VBA is already critically understaffed, and the lockout is only making it worse,” said National VA Council President Alma Lee. “Our veterans deserve better from their elected leaders.”

In addition to the more than 7,000 claims workers furloughed, the VA also has placed more than 2,700 Office of Information Technology workers on furlough. VA software development will cease until the government decides on funding, including the ongoing work being done on the new Veterans Benefits Management System.

Installment of that software had just been completed at all of the VA’s 56 regional offices this year and was said to be an answer to the massive backlog, as employees could work a claim quicker with the new system.

In addition to the furloughs, the American Legion was notified that its representatives won’t be able to use their office space in federal VA buildings.

National American Legion Commander Daniel Dellinger expressed anger at the decision.

“Because Congress and the White House refuse to speak to each other, our country’s veterans are suffering more with each passing day of this extremely dangerous impasse,” he said in a press release. “Now we’ve reached the point where VA can’t even process benefits claims for our men and women who served in uniform. Our nation’s leaders need a reality check.”

Veterans can still make a claim during the shutdown by calling (800)-827-1000.

The Veterans Benefits Administration announced that it will not be able to respond to congressional inquiries until appropriations have been restored. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is scheduled to testify today at a House Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing in Washington, D.C., that will examine the impact of the shutdown on VA operations, the news release said.

Disabled American Veterans announced Tuesday that it will set up mobile service offices to provide free claims assistance for veterans in light of many federal VA claims offices closing. The temporary sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday for as long as the VA offices remain closed. A full listing of the mobile sites can be found at www.dav.org.