*UPDATE – On Monday, April 13, it was announced that Ms. Paul has resigned. She refers to the incident as a “misunderstanding” and claims that harassment forced her out of the job.
Less than two weeks ago, I blogged about an email circulated by a senior-level VA employee that joked about veteran suicide. This email prompted many veterans service organizations (VSOs) to rally for the employee’s removal, especially in light of the employee’s role as a licensed social worker entrusted with caring for transitioning combat veterans.
Now it looks like these VSOs might get their wish.
Today, the Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Board voted to impose a 90-day suspension of Ms. Robin Paul’s license. This is only two weeks after the VA placed Ms. Paul on paid administrative leave following the outcry over the email. (Ms. Paul is a case manager for the Roubedash VA Medical Center’s STICC – the Seamless Transition Integrated Care Clinic. She makes approximately $88,000 a year in that position).
“Due to the nature of Ms. Paul’s work at the VA medical center in a transitional clinic for veterans dealing with mental health issues, the state felt that she did represent a clear and immediate danger based on the nature and contents of the email,” Deputy Attorney General Laura Sahm told the Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Board.
Ms. Paul will remain on paid administrative leave while an internal VA investigation takes place. Julie Webb, a spokeswoman for VA Roudebush, denied that the move was a form of discipline.
VA, are you sure you want to say that? Aren’t you already in enough trouble for not keeping your employees in check? (For another blog on that subject, see here).
As background, the email that has gotten everyone so fired up had the subject line: “Naughty Elf in the STICC,” and it included four photos of a Christmas elf character in various rooms of the STICC. For example, one photo included a note next to the character that read “Out of Xanax please help!” Another photo (featured at bottom) depicted the elf hanging from a strand of Christmas lights and a caption that read “Caught in the act of suicidal behavior (trying to hang himself from an electrical cord).”
The truly disturbing thing about the photos is they were tailored specifically to the medical center; i.e., someone went to the trouble to create them. It is unclear whether that person was Ms. Paul; all we know is she passed them along to her staff.
An online petition calling for the Ms. Paul to be fired has more than 6,000 signatures as of mid-March. May the people be heard!
*Did you find this article informative? If so, sign up for Sarah Schauerte’s legal blog on veterans issues at: https://legalmeetspractical.com.
In light of the fact, I absolutely believe that Robin Paul should be terminated immediately, without second thoughts, and denied any and all benefits her position held for her. Perhaps if she were put on the front line with our fighting men and women, she wouldn’t be so quick to laugh at the horrible situations some of our service men and women find themselves in. A joke, this is not a joke, it’s a sickness that she feels personally towards the individuals that she is supposedly helping. She needs to be ousted and fast!
Thank you for the article.
Resignation is NOT good enough. It is yet another insult and betrayal to us veterans by the corrupt and incompetent VA – not to mention this fool was getting 80k+benefits while most of us who got damaged in service do without???? Screw that!
If she had done something so carelessly foolish and potentially dangerous as Active Duty Enlisted (I assure you this person is NOT Officer Material by any means her crew would frag her) on my boat she’d have been busted to E-1 and sent to Leavenworth for hard labor. Seriously – Fast-Attack Nuclear Engineering threatened us with Leavenworth every time we pulled into a foreign port, and any time any of us stood up for our alleged rights. Never mind that Walker et al. had already blown most submarine missions anyway.
I did not voluntarily go under ice against the Soviets to come home and be abused by idiot and incompetent VA. It took them 30 years to even begin to compensate me for the disabilities and ruined health and quality of life (what a joke!) I earned in service to my Country. And they STILL don;t help me at all with PTSD because I was not in a “war” – the only thing that happened to me was getting stuck with zero powe under ice because the CO decided to do a battery charge with exhausted Engineering. — hhmmm,,,, no PTSD due to no “war” (what a crock!) and I might have the *privilege* of being treated and ridiculed by some civilian VA twit? I don’t think so.
Fry her – make a grand glorious example of her just like the Government did to so many junior enlisted who screwed up. Same Rules. Period.
Send her sorry butt to prison – let her serve her sentence as Counselor there. The first time she screws up with a hard-core inmate I am betting she’d be introduced to God before the day was out.
What she did is NOT a “misunderstanding”, it was incredibly stupid Criminal Abuse of Position and misuse of government equipment. So she is sorry she is so stupid, big bleeping deal – fry her and the incompetent dimwit that placed her in such a vital and sensitive position.
I’d have had a more pleasant quality of life as a peasant farmer under “Papa Joe” (that is Stalin to those of you who fail History). — and for *this* abuse I did nuclear engineering on a mobile platform under ice? But that is OK – Duke Power and southern Co. both offered me $8.50/hr to start on night shift………… wasn’t that a great reward for service and recognition of military training by our civilian employers? — We do NOT need to retrain Vet’s near as much as we need to retrain stupid, bigoted, ignorant civilian employers and work-force.
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I agree, fire her and ensure she keeps none of her benefits! Frying her is a bit much, but firing her is absolutely appropriate.