THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010
KLMNO
S
THE FEDERAL WORKER In Anacostia, sharing food and friendship
JOE DAVIDSON Federal Diary
Compensation shouldn’t be so hard for workers hurt on job
W
orking for the federal government should not be hazardous to
employees’ health. But when it is, Uncle Sam should not be as stingy as he was made out to be during a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Leaders of employee organizations, including those representing baggage screeners and federal firefighters, provided one example after another of the government’s failure to care, either promptly or at all, for federal workers who were injured on the job.
Consider these stories from
Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association: On Sept. 11, 2001, Secret Service Special Agent Mike Vaiani ran into the World Trade Center, attempting to rescue those inside. He seriously injured his neck, shoulders and back in the process. First, the Labor Department’s
Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs lost his file. Then he started getting dunned for unpaid medical bills. “After enduring this miserable process,” Adler told the House Oversight and Government Reform
examples Adler offered. Hallmark, in his prepared statement, said his office “is dedicated to promptly adjudicating claims, promptly paying medical bills and claims for compensation.” He told Del. Eleanor Holmes
Norton (D-D.C.) that his office does not make payments while a claim is being adjudicated. For complicated cases, the agency’s goal is to decide on a claim within six months, he said. Of course, a complicated case might be one that involves a complicated and serious ailment that is expensive to fix. A six-month wait could be devastating in those circumstances. Those complicated cases
sometimes involve illnesses, such as cancer, that might have been caused when an employee came in contact with a toxin while working. These cases require lots of detailed medical evidence to establish the link between the illness and the job. The claims acceptance rate for
subcommittee on the federal workforce, “Vaiani stated, ‘I would rather run back into the tower while it’s on fire than have to deal with the Department of Labor.’ ” Postal Inspector Bill Paliscak went to the Brentwood postal facility in Northeast Washington when anthrax-contaminated mail was discovered in 2001. Paliscak became ill as a result of anthrax exposure. The compensation office initially denied his claim. It was accepted in May 2002, but not before his credit was ruined and his medical care was disrupted. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Tim Chard participated in the dismantling of 100 meth labs between 2000 and 2007. In 2008, he began to suffer from pain and other symptoms apparently connected to meth lab toxins. The compensation office rejected his claim, so the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation paid for him to enter a treatment program. “The common denominator from these horror stories is the OWCP is unable to effectively process claims filed by injured law enforcement officers,” Adler said. A denial of a claim, or delay in processing it, can exacerbate medical problems and financially ruin employees, he told the panel, because once they say a health problem is work-related, private insurance will not cover it.
Shelby Hallmark, director of the compensation program, testified before Adler spoke and did not respond to the specific
on
washingtonpost.com
Federal careers expert Derrick Dortch answered questions online recently. Following is an excerpt.
Q. No more KSAs, right? When does the KSA [essay] re- quirement go away for govern- ment jobs? I have stopped apply- ing for jobs because I found the KSAs more work than graduate school. The last time I mailed off a packet to apply for a job — I in- cluded everything — I received a form letter six months later that said I was not in consideration because my application was in- complete. It was not. . . . I met ev- ery qualification for this job and I am a veteran. I can’t imagine a more convoluted system of apply- ing for a job. Please tell me it is getting better. Sign me: Frustrat- ed in Rockville
A. Derrick Dortch writes: First, let me say, from one vet
to another, thank you for your service. The new system for just taking résumés is suppose to take effect by November 2010. I can’t promise you that it will be imme- diately better. It’s very much a wait-and-see situation. Let me make three suggestions: 1. Whenever you are going to apply to a position, make sure you talk to the human resources contact person. Never let any po- sition you apply to sit for several months without you knowing anything. Find out what the time- line is for the position and when they expect to conduct interviews and hire. Also make sure every- thing is in order with your appli- cation and ask whether you are on the eligible list and are being referred to the selecting official
or hiring manager. You need to be in touch with someone every step of the way. 2. Contact your veterans’ repre-
sentative in the agencies of inter- est. President Obama is pushing forward with initiatives to get veterans hired. A good site to check out is Feds Hire Vets,
http://www.fedshirevets.gov/. 3. Have your self-marketing
materials (federal résumé, KSAs and other materials) reviewed by a professional or someone who knows what they are talking about. You want to make sure that what you are putting out is really selling you as the best can- didate.
Go to
www.washingtonpost.com/jobs for the entire July 7 discussion.
Health-care reform bill makes it easier to fight insurance claim denials. A17
One example after another of the government’s failure to care.
occupation illnesses was only 52 percent last year, compared with a 90 percent rate for traumatic injuries, such as being cut by work equipment, Hallmark told the panel. The
subcommittee’s hearing comes two days after President Obama announced his POWER
Initiative, an acronym for Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment. He expects the program to reduce federal workplace injuries and cut lost time.
Obama cited more than 79,000
new claims and more than $1.6 billion in workers’ compensation payments in fiscal 2009. “Executive departments and agencies can and should do even more to improve workplace safety and health, reduce the financial burden of injury on taxpayers, and relieve unnecessary suffering by workers and their families,” he said. Just before the hearing, the subcommittee held a business meeting where it approved legislation to enhance training for federal supervisors. Under the bill, supervisors would receive training within one year of entering their new positions and every three years after that. The panel, chaired by Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), also advanced legislation that calls on the Office of Personnel Management to use a different method to calculate payments by the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service to the Civil Service Retirement System. After recalculating the payments, the legislation directs OPM to transfer any Postal Service surplus in payments already made to the USPS Retiree Health Benefits Fund. Estimates of the surplus range from $55 billion to $75 billion.
federaldiary@washpost.com
onwashingtonpost.com Q.
No. 1 As teleworking legislation continues moving toward becoming law — it passed in the House last week, after previously passing in the Senate — do you expect that you will work from home more often?
No. 2 Has the U.S. Agriculture Department’s handling of Shirley Sherrod, above— firing her based on a heavily edited video clip, then later apologizing and offering her another job — reaffirmed your confidence that you can be heard by managers in this administration or made you feel less secure and more careful about what you might do or say?
E-mail your answer to federaleye@
washingtonpost.com and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We might include your response in Friday’s Washington Post.
PHOTOS BY MEGAN ROSSMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST
Children play Wii games at the Frederick Douglass Community Center in Washington as part of the Feds Feed Families summer food drive program, led by the Office of Personnel Management. Government leaders visited the center, which has partnered with the Capital Area Food Bank, to meet children who have been helped by the program. Dekairees Champ, 6, left, shows a computer game to Deborah Band and Laronna Bell, employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Feds Feed Families asks federal workers to contribute food to needy residents. Its goal is to collect 1.2million pounds of food and support the United We Serve: Let’s Read! Let’s Move! campaign.
B3
CIA veteran to head clandestine service
Former paramilitary unit chief had retired after nearly 30 years
by Peter Finn
John D. Bennett, a CIA veteran who served as station chief in Pa- kistan until last year and who has had numerous other overseas postings, has been appointed head of the agency’s National Clandestine Service, Director Leon E. Panetta announced Wednesday. Bennett, a former Marine and a
Harvard graduate, had retired in May after a nearly 30-year career at the CIA, but was coaxed back to take charge of the service, which runs human intelligence and co-
vert operations. Among other posts, Bennett previously served as chief of the Special Activities Division, the agency’s covert para- military unit. As head of the clandestine serv- ice, he will succeed Michael J. Sul- ick, who is retiring. As station chief in Pakistan, one of the agency’s most sensitive po- sitions, Bennett was deeply in- volved in the drone campaign that has killed hundreds of al- Qaeda and Taliban operatives, in- cluding at least 20 senior figures. “John has impeccable creden-
tials at the very core of intelli- gence operations — espionage, co- vert action, and liaison,” Panetta said. “He has been at the forefront of the fight against al-Qaeda and its violent allies. . . . He knows the topics and regions that are likely
to shape our security agenda in the years ahead. But there is much more to it than that. He also understands the hardships and benefits of tough jobs, and he knows — in any environment — the mix of skills, capabilities, and partners that successful opera- tions demand.” Panetta also noted in a state- ment that Sulick, during his three years at the clandestine service, “guided complex operations un- der some of the most difficult cir- cumstances imaginable.” “Our officers have had tremen- dous success against the full range of national security chal- lenges, including terrorists, weap- ons proliferators, drug traffickers, rogue states and hostile intelli- gence services,” Panetta said.
finnp@washpost.com
REPLACEMENT WINDOWS
Qualifying products up to $1500 Energy Tax Credit!
$189
WE SELL ENERGY STAR
703-378-7999 n
•DOORS •SIDING •TRIM •ROOFING
0 G
•GUTTERS & COVERS
W wrthephoneinperson!
www.fourseasonshomeimp.com TOLL FREE: eans e Any Size White Double-Hung
Window INSTALLED!* *3 Window Minimum Up to 4ft Wide x 7ft Tall
of DC Inc.
“Simply the Best for Less” MHIC #1222286 VA License #2705274538 Class A 4116Walney Rd., Ste. - J, Chantilly, VA 20151
www.windowworlddc.com
ExteriorHomeImprovementExperts! SummerSale!*
6 Mo. Same-As-Cash Plus
TAKE 10% OFFPlus $1500 Tax Credit
*Exp. 7/31/10
FOURSEASONS HOMEIMPROVEMENTCO.,INC.
Since 1976 MHIC# 11877 DC# 3006 VAHIC# 2705 – 082387A 1-888-408-2595
Payment Options
Available
t
a
% a c
1 r
i o
0
u
S
d
a
e
t
e
i
t
s
n
f
a
!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74