VA Employees not getting hazardous duty pay during pandemic

VA Workers Sue for Hazardous Duty Pay During Pandemic

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
30 Mar 2020

There was no immediate response from the VA to the lawsuit. As of Saturday, the VA had reported a total of more than 770 confirmed cases of coronavirus among veterans nationwide and at least 16 deaths.

Visitors stroll through a long, glass-walled corridor that connects a dozen buildings at the new Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colo., after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the hospital on July 21, 2018. The $1.7 billion medical center replaces an aging and crowded facility in Denver. (AP Photo/Dan Elliott)

The union representing more than 260,000 civil service employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs filed a lawsuit Monday, claiming they are owed hazardous duty pay of 25% above their typical salaries for working during the coronavirus epidemic that has infected more than 770 veterans nationwide.

The suit, by the American Federation of Government Employees filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., also included plaintiffs from the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Agriculture and said they also were entitled to hazardous duty pay under sections of the U.S. Code.

In addition, the lawsuit alleged that "there are likely thousands of other federal employees who have been exposed to the coronavirus while performing their official duties and are entitled to hazard pay pursuant to federal law."

"It is our hope that the government does right by these employees and pays them the hazardous duty pay they've earned," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement announcing the filing of the suit.
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Hackers Have Records Of Every Federal Employee?

Union: Hackers Have Personnel Data on Every Federal Employee 
Associated Press
by Ken Dilanian
Jun 11, 2015

WASHINGTON — Hackers stole personnel data and Social Security numbers for every federal employee, a government worker union said Thursday, saying that the cyber theft of U.S. employee information was more damaging than the Obama administration has acknowledged.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor that the December hack into Office of Personnel Management data was carried out by "the Chinese" without specifying whether he meant the Chinese government or individuals. Reid is one of eight lawmakers briefed on the most secret intelligence information. U.S. officials have declined to publicly blame China, which has denied involvement.

J. David Cox, president of the American Federal of Government Employees, said in a letter to OPM director Katherine Archuleta that based on OPM's internal briefings, "We believe that the Central Personnel Data File was the targeted database, and that the hackers are now in possession of all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to one million former federal employees."

The OPM data file contains the records of non-military, non-intelligence executive branch employees, which covers most federal civilian employees but not, for example, members of Congress and their staffs.
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Shutdown Brings Toilet Paper Crisis, Protesters to Colorado

Shutdown Brings Toilet Paper Crisis, Protesters
The Gazette
Colorado Springs
by Tom Roeder
Oct 04, 2013

As the federal shutdown ground into its third day on Thursday, Fort Carson civilian workers voiced their frustrations with a noisy protest at the post's main gate.

Dozens of members of the American Federation of Government Employees chanted about ending the shutdown, eliciting baritone honks from passing 18-wheelers.

There's been sadness and fear to go with the anger, said Albert Rivera, vice president of the union's chapter on Fort Carson.

"We've seen a lot of tears," he said.

How important are those 5,000 furloughed civilian Defense Department workers in Colorado Springs?

Ask Air Force Academy cadets who ran into serious shutdown trouble. It seems the civilian worker who orders toilet paper was off the job, causing a crisis while supplies were obtained.
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