Imagine getting fired for filing a whistleblower action against your employer, and then returning to work after vindication two years later. How awkward would that be?
Department of Veterans’ Affairs (“VA”) employee and Army veteran Mr. Bradie Frink is in that exact situation after a federal investigatory body determined that he was retaliated against for seeking Congressional help in finding his lost disability claims file.
According to the VA’s Office of Special Counsel (“OSC”), Mr. Frink’s supervisor wrongly accused him of abusing vacation time and misusing his position to track down his file, which was lost for four months before Mr. Frink contacted Senator Barbara Mikulski’s office for assistance in resolving the issue. The OSG also found that the three different employees involved in the firing “lacked credibility” in their stories, and even if they had been correct, the punishment should have been less severe than being fired.
“In nearly every single instance involving similarly-situated employees, the penalties were much lower relative to the alleged misconduct than in Frink’s case,” the OSC noted in its 19-page report. “Furthermore, the level of care taken to counsel employees and document misconduct, as well as the amount of investigation done to confirm what really happened, all contrasted sharply with how the VA handled Frink’s case.”
Investigators speculated that the supervisors were touchy over Mr. Frink because the Baltimore RO was already facing scrutiny over claims processing. The Baltimore Sun had revealed months earlier that the Baltimore RO had the highest percentage of backlogged disability claims in the country, as well as the highest processing error rate. As such, Mr. Frink’s query to Senator Barbara Mikulski was particularly unwanted. This is also evidenced by the fact that Mr. Frink was let go within a month after Congressional staffers reached out to the RO.
“Intimidation or retaliation — not just against whistleblowers — but against any employee who raises a hand to identify a problem, make a suggestion or report what may be a violation in law, policy or VA’s core values — is absolutely unacceptable,” the VA said in a statement.
The OSC recommended that Mr. Frink be given his job back and given back pay, and recommended two supervisors who retaliated be disciplined. Mr. Frink was officially rehired as of yesterday.
One last note – Mr. Frink’s file was located soon after Senator Mikulski’s staff contacted the RO, and his claim was processed later that year. But who knows the outcome?
After all, the Baltimore RO allegedly has the highest error rate in the country.
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Glad that Mr. Fink finally got justice and hopefully his claim resolved. Will he ever get fair treatment from the review boards though? Couldn’t he request a change of venue and have another state evaluate his disability claim? As for his job, well he is pretty much guaranteed to be unpromotable at this point. They’ll find reasons and CYA but there are bound to be hurt feelings over this against him.
Thank you sir. It was awkward and positions or promotions did not really come my way, but I have since relocated and still navigating through the VA.
I recently had a claim denied that completely disregarded the facts, the VA regulations, and the clear evidence submitted. It was such a blow off and disregard of what was submitted that I decided to just let it go as I’m already 60% service connected disabled and all I was really trying to do was get Leukemia due to radiation exposure service connected so if it kills me my wife will be eligible for additional benefits. I think that the heat the VA is receiving is generating a cut the claims backlog anyway you can attitude.
Thank you for your service!! Now, as your wife has also probably told you, DO NOT DROP YOUR CLAIM!! FIGHT IT, FIGHT IT, FIGHT IT!!!!
The vet actually was REQUIRED to have another RO look at his claim (because of concerns with protecting confidential information/privacy, which caused the issue – he started work there and went to find his file so it could be transferred and realized it was MIA.