2021 Veterans Day Q&A with U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough

From 1929 to 1971, an off-post Monsanto chemical plant operated south of Fort McClellan in Anniston. PCBs from the plant entered into the environment, and the surrounding community was exposed.
Since the 1990s, several investigations have been conducted to characterize the exposure of Anniston residents to PCBs from the Monsanto plant. In 2015, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) published an assessment of the potential health risks caused by airborne PCBs in Anniston and concluded that the concentrations found were 'not expected to result in an increased cancer risk or other harmful health effects in people living in the neighborhoods outside the perimeter of the former PCB manufacturing facility.'
Overview | Anniston Community Health Survey (ACHS) | ATSDR (cdc.gov)
In 2003, Monsanto reached a $700 million settlement with the residents of West Anniston, Alabama affected by the manufacturing and dumping of PCBs.

Specific actions we are taking include significant enhancements in clinical and community-based preventive services. Clinically, this includes screening Veterans regularly for suicidality across our health care continuum, providing suicide safety planning after a Veteran visits an Emergency Department, and expanding the delivery of evidence-based psychotherapies specifically aimed at reducing suicide. VA's SP 2.0 Community-Based Interventions involve active partnering with communities to support local efforts to prevent Veteran suicide. These efforts have led to 35 states engaged in VA/SAMHSA Governor's Challenges with plans to expand to all 50 states and 5 U.S. territories in FY22. Nationally, Community Based Interventions cover 2,381 counties in the United States, including 13.2 million Veterans. VA has completed many efforts and continue to build on efforts as directed by the National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide (2018) and our public health approach which are available at: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/strategy.asp.

There are several options you may consider, which are outlined below:

(A) Reasonable Accommodation

Thank you for your service and sharing your circumstances. It looks like you may already be going through the reasonable accommodation process and are at the accommodation of last resort, which is reassignment. When an employee is no longer able to perform the essential functions of his or her current position with or without reasonable accommodation, reassignment is the accommodation of last resort.

During the reassignment stage of the reasonable accommodation process, the employee's Human Resources office works with the employee to find a suitable position that meets his or her qualifications and can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation.

VA Handbook 5975.1 provides more context regarding the processing of reasonable accommodation requests for employees and applicants with disabilities.

If the employee believes that he has been denied a reasonable accommodation, he has the following options:

(1) Reconsideration. Upon receipt of the decision from the DMO, the employee or applicant has seven (7) calendar days to request reconsideration. After receiving a request for reconsideration, a senior official above the DMO has fourteen (14) calendar days to render a decision and notify the requestor, in writing. A final interactive process with the RAC, the employee, and the senior official is recommended to ensure that any concerns are heard before a final decision is made.

(2) EEO Complaint. To file an EEO complaint, applicants for employment or employees must contact an EEO counselor within forty-five (45) calendar days of receiving the decision, pursuant to 29 C.F.R. Part 1614.

(3) Union Grievance. Bargaining unit employees may file a grievance in accordance with applicable Collective Bargaining Agreements. The union's negotiated grievance procedure will apply.

(4) Administrative Grievance. This is a procedure used by non-bargaining unit employees who may file an Administrative Grievance to challenge the decision within fifteen (15) calendar days of receiving the decision by contacting anyone in their chain of command. The employee should also inform Human Resources that they are filing an Administrative Grievance.

(5) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Employees and applicants are encouraged to participate in informal resolution processes available to address the reasonable accommodation outcome. The ADR process is outlined in VA Directive 5978: Alternative Dispute Resolution. Individuals may participate in ADR as part of the above avenues of redress or independently. If participation is independent of the above avenues of redress, it does not meet the requirements for filing claims under the aforementioned processes. If the employee believes she or he may also want to pursue other avenues of redress, the employee should check with the appropriate EEO/Union/HR office to ensure that time requirements are met. Please contact Kenneth Law, VHA National Reasonable Accommodation Consultant (NRAC) at [login to see] or [login to see] for additional information regarding reasonable accommodation.

B) DISABILITY RETIREMENT

If your condition is preventing you from completing a critical element of your job, you may be eligible for a disability retirement. To qualify, you must have at least 18 months of civilian Federal service creditable under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The disability must be expected to last at least one year. I am pleased to let you know the VHA has a consolidated Retirement Shared Services Office (RSSO) to assist you with your questions and can help you apply. The RSSO handles retirement issues for all VHA employees and is available Monday – Friday from 7am – 5pm CST at [login to see] . Information can also be found at the RSSO SharePoint Site. Please contact the RSSO at your convenience for more information. Contact information Deborah Innella at [login to see] or PH: [login to see]

C) NONCOMPETITIVE PLACEMENT

You may contact your local Human Resources Office to inquire about opportunities to be placed noncompetitively from your Title 38 position to a Title 5 position (in which you are qualified for) under the Schedule A hiring authority. This authority allows VA HR practitioners to hire eligible persons with severe physical, psychiatric or intellectual disability without competition. Such individuals may qualify for conversion to permanent status after two years of satisfactory service. Proof of disability documentation by a licensed medical professional, licensed Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist or Federal or State agency/department that issues or provides disability benefits will be required.

D) APPLYING FOR FEDERAL JOBS/JOB SEARCHES

You are able to update your USAJOBS profile and save your search to help you look for jobs in your area of interest. When you save your search you are able to set up your email preference to receive emails, daily, weekly or monthly, when there are new jobs posted that match your search criteria. USAJOBS.GOV has a Help Center which provides numerous 'How To' articles related to job searches, updating your profile, etc.

VA is committed to providing the highest level of care to all Veterans who are seen by VA As an agency of the U.S. Government, VA is governed by federal laws, not state laws. VA and all VA staff, including contractors, as well as outside providers acting on VA's behalf, may only prescribe medications that have been approved by the FDA for medical use. At present, marijuana and most products containing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), or other cannabinoids are not approved by the FDA for this purpose. For these reasons, VA providers may not prescribe or recommend medical marijuana, nor complete paperwork/forms required for Veteran patients to participate in state-approved marijuana programs. In addition, VA pharmacies may not fill prescriptions for these drugs, nor will VA pay for such prescriptions from any source. It is important to know that Veterans will not lose access to VA financial or medical benefits because of medical marijuana use, but it may affect clinical decisions about other prescriptions, including those for pain management. These are clinical decisions that practitioners make according to a medical evaluation and are not determined by VA policy.

The 2014 investigation at Phoenix, which was led by the Office of Inspector General, related to allegations of improper appointment management procedures and excessive appointment wait times. VHA is committed to providing the highest quality of care and addresses concerns related to healthcare quality seriously. Specific concerns should be referred to VA or VHA internally or to external agencies such as The Joint Commission or the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. For the Secretary's knowledge, the Office of the Medical Inspector is actively conducting an investigation into concerns related to care in the Emergency Department and community care transfers at Phoenix.

We are sorry to hear about your experience and a grateful that you were able to get assistance. VA is committed to ensuring that every Veteran can access safe and stable housing. We will look into you concerns and work to resolve any barriers that Veterans face.

The law requires that a military retiree waive a portion of their gross DoD retired pay, dollar for dollar, by the amount of their Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation pay; this is known as the VA waiver (or VA offset). The law does not allow for concurrent receipt of VA compensation and retired pay under Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) for VA disability ratings under 50%.

S. 657 is a bill to modify the presumption of service connection for veterans who were exposed to herbicide agents while serving in the armed Forces in Thailand during the Vietnam Era, and for other purposes. The bill has not been yet enacted. The status can be found on Congress.gov.

At a minimum, federal law would have to be changed and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would have to approve medical marijuana before VA providers would be able to prescribe or recommend medical marijuana or complete paperwork/forms for Veteran patients to participate in state-approved marijuana programs. As an agency of the U.S. Government, VA is governed by federal laws, not state laws. VA and all VA staff, including contractors, as well as outside providers acting on VA's behalf, may only prescribe medications that have been approved by the FDA for medical use. At present, marijuana and most products containing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), or other cannabinoids are not approved by the FDA for this purpose. For these reasons, VA providers may not prescribe or recommend medical marijuana, nor complete paperwork/forms required for Veteran patients to participate in state-approved marijuana programs. In addition, VA pharmacies may not fill prescriptions for these drugs, nor will VA pay for such prescriptions from any source.