Investigation: Oakland VA Office Lost Thousands of Veterans Claims

By Doug Oakley
doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com
OAKLAND -- The Oakland office of Veterans Affairs improperly filed and then lost about 14,000 unprocessed veterans benefit claims, some dating back to the 1990s, according to a federal government investigation released Wednesday. 

No one will ever know the fate of those 14,000 informal applications for benefits found in a filing cabinet in 2012 because after they were discovered by a VA management support team, they disappeared, according to a report by the federal Office of Inspector General, which investigated problems at the office last summer. 

The Office of Inspector General was tipped off to the sloppy practices at the Oakland office by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville. He said as soon as he took office in January 2013, he started hearing from frustrated veterans who complained they were getting the runaround from the Oakland office. 

Later he started hearing from employees in the office about an "oppressive" working atmosphere and shoddy work practices. 

LaMalfa said he is gratified the investigation took place and that office director Julianna Boor, who took over early last year, instituted some new training, but he is still not satisfied. He said he would really like to hear from former office director Douglas Bragg, who retired in January 2014. 

"If those records are unfindable, ever, then someone needs to pay a price for allowing that to happen," LaMalfa said. "I'm hopeful they have changed in a new direction, and a lot of good work is coming out, but is it going to be sustained so that they that catch up on the backlog?" 

The Oakland office has more than 300 employees and handles claims for veterans throughout Northern California. It currently has about 30,000 claims pending for more than 125 days. 

According to the Office of Inspector General, a VA management team came to the office in 2012 to help sort out its problems and found about 14,000 informal claims -- those requesting initial assistance -- in a filing cabinet that had not been processed. Some were over 20 years old. 

But when the Office of Inspector General arrived for an unannounced site visit last July, nearly two years later, none of those records could be found. Investigators did find a spread sheet with a list of old, unprocessed claims. A sample of those found "staff did not maintain adequate records or provide proper supervision of trainees to ensure informal claims received timely processing." 

LaMalfa said he will continue to push for more oversight and investigations into management at the Oakland office. 

"We need the answer to where did they go and why," LaMalfa said. "This report cannot end here, and we won't let it." 

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, who sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, piled on with criticism of the Oakland VA office. 

"Losing these letters and other records is completely unacceptable," McNerney said in a statement. "This report is yet another unfortunate example of mismanagement at the VA and illustrates the need for transparency at the department. 

A call to the Oakland VA office was not immediately returned. 

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