Review of VBA's Alleged Mismanagement of Unemployability Benefits at VARO Seattle, Washington

On March 6, 2015, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) received allegations that VARO staff were storing more than 1,000 pieces of unprocessed mail, primarily Employment Questionnaires, which were needed to continue individual unemployability benefits, for several months. The complainant alleged the mismanagement of Employment Questionnaires resulted in the transmission of hundreds of unnecessary notifications proposing to discontinue individual unemployability benefits. The complainant also alleged VARO management delayed taking any action to process the unprocessed mail. We substantiated VARO staff mismanaged unprocessed mail relating to IU benefits and unnecessarily proposed to discontinue IU benefits for 27 (20 percent) of the 132 employment questionnaires we reviewed. We did not substantiate the allegation that VARO management delayed taking corrective actions to address unprocessed mail—rather, the Director instructed staff to take immediate action to process the mail once he learned of the situation. Recommendations for improvement included convening administrative investigation boards to: determine why VARO management was unaware that unprocessed mail had been stored within the Intake Processing Center (IPC) and determine why IPC staff did not seek assistance for processing employment questionnaires. We also recommended refresher training for staff with oversight and functional responsibility for mail processing. Further, we recommended that the Under Secretary for Benefits ensure audit trails coexist with corrective action plans in all instances of mismanagement or data manipulation. VBA's Pacific District Director concurred in principle with our first two recommendations but proposed an alternative to administrative investigation boards. We will monitor planned actions and follow up on their implementation.