VA workers face more mandatory overtime amid record claims processing – By Leo Shane III (Federal Times) / Nov 30, 2023
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs staffers have posted record highs for processing benefits claims in recent weeks, but they’ll still face thousands of hours of mandatory overtime over the next year to keep pace with the workload coming in.
“I don’t like to ask our employees to work mandatory overtime, but I like less to have veterans wait for their benefits,” said Willie Clark, deputy under secretary for field operations at the Veterans Benefits Administration. “So we are keeping mandatory overtime for now … Our hope is downstream we can rely on it less.”
VA officials said they are pushing to hire more staff and find ways to ensure current employees aren’t burnt out by the flood of cases coming in. Staffers processed a record number of disability claims in fiscal 2023 and appear to be on pace to break that high mark again this fiscal year.
Clark said that before Oct. 1, department workers three times processed more than 9,000 claims in a single day. Since Oct. 1, benefits specialists have handled more than 9,000 claims 18 times.
