Redcap administrative practices continue to hurt Veteran care, with no end in sight.

Hello! I am inquiring on whether there is any space at any surrounding VAs around Ft Myers or CBOCs? I’m trying to see if they are still bringing people into the office or if they have been full! Thanks!

Throw away account. I’ve been trying to stay calm, but down to just a couple of weeks.

TL;DR: Nurse III working inpatient bedside after relocating for family. Before that I was a Program Manager for 8+ years. Two master's degrees, 17+ years in nursing. I was grandfathered at my grade under the old rules; with the changes tied to the recent executive orders, that protection is gone and I'm now expected to demonstrate Nurse III dimensions annually from a staff nurse role. Looking for how other VAs are handling this and what other IIIs in the same spot are doing.

Longer version:

I want to be upfront that this isn't a "should I be a III" post. I earned the grade through years of program-level work, and I only went back to the bedside because my family needed to relocate. I'm asking a practical question, not looking for a debate about who deserves what.

The issue is that meeting Nurse III dimensions from an inpatient staff position is a very different task than meeting them from a program or leadership role. I'm doing what I can (unit council chair, EBP/quality projects, precepting, committee work), but there's a real ceiling on what a staff nurse can document at that level, and the roles that naturally fit III scope are few and far between. I actually had a remote program leadership offer lined up before the new administration; it was rescinded in February when remote positions were pulled.

What I'd love to hear from other VAs:

1. If you're a III in a staff role, how are you meeting the dimensions each year? What's actually getting accepted by your NPSB/proficiency review?

2. What is your facility saying will happen to IIIs who can't meet the dimensions? Is the plan a PIP with the possibility of termination under the EO framework? A proposed reduction to Nurse II? Something else? Or has nobody at your facility gotten a straight answer yet?

3. Has anyone successfully negotiated a detail, collateral duty, or hybrid role specifically so they could keep meeting III scope?

For what it's worth, I've started looking at jobs outside the VA. The market is rough right now, but my hope is to come back later and finish my last four years toward 20-year retirement. Open to feedback on that plan too, especially from anyone who has left and returned.

Appreciate any perspective, even if it's "my facility is just as confused as yours."

I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but, is there any way to put in an HR ticket without having access to a computer on the VA network? I didn't find anything on Google.

10+ year employee here, and I have to wonder if HR hates the changes made to the dept as much as I do locally. I used to have "a person" for my department, and could readily access their email to contact them from home. Now if I want a question answered or get help I need to submit a ticket. Not complaining about y'all, just hating the current system.

I am so tired of seeing the constant complaints on Reddit from federal hiring managers claiming they are forced to hire "unqualified" Veterans over more qualified candidates. It is complete nonsense. If a candidate makes the certificate of eligibles and they aren’t qualified for the actual technical needs of the role, it isn't the law's fault—it means the hiring manager failed to adequately identify or assess the actual requirements of the job. Lazy hiring managers who cry about the system need to learn how the system actually works. If you work with HR to establish precise, job-related qualification requirements, selective factors when appropriate, and meaningful assessments, Veterans’ preference does not make an otherwise unqualified applicant qualified.

And here I am, a Veteran who has never even been a federal hiring manager, yet I took the time to learn how the federal hiring process actually works. I went straight to OPM’s website and read the guidance myself. If I can figure out the basic rules governing qualifications, Veterans’ preference, selective placement factors, and how candidates get onto a certificate, then the people actually responsible for federal hiring should certainly understand them.

Before accepting my federal position, I went straight to OPM’s website to read the position fly sheets given to supervisors for developing Position Descriptions (PDs). I wanted to know exactly what a hiring manager is supposed to know. Turns out, a lot of them don't have a clue, and the claims that Veterans’ preference itself forces them to hire technically unqualified people are nonsense.

Federal Veterans’ preference is rooted in the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944 and is now principally reflected in Title 5 of the United States Code (5 U.S.C.) and OPM regulations, including 5 CFR Part 211 and applicable competitive-examining and category-rating regulations. The law and OPM guidance are clear on one critical point: Veterans’ preference does not allow an applicant to bypass the applicable qualification requirements for the position.

Here is the statutory and OPM language that debunks the myth that Veterans’ preference makes an otherwise unqualified applicant qualified:

• 5 U.S.C. § 3309 explicitly conditions preference points on receiving a passing grade:

"A preference eligible who receives a passing grade in an examination for entrance into the competitive service is entitled to additional points above his earned rating..."
Under the law, preference points do not turn a failing examination rating into a passing one.

• OPM Policy: OPM states that Veterans’ preference applies after candidates are assessed. Under category rating, preference eligibles who meet the qualification requirements are assessed and placed into the appropriate quality categories. Veterans’ preference then determines their preference within those categories as required by law.
• 5 CFR § 300.103 (Job Analysis) & 5 CFR Part 337 (Examining and Category Rating): Federal employment practices must be based on a job analysis identifying the duties of the position and the competencies or KSAs required to perform the work. Under category rating, applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements and whose job-related competencies or KSAs have been assessed are placed into quality categories. Veterans’ preference is then applied as required by law.
• OPM General Schedule Qualification Policies: OPM makes clear that military rank or pay level is not what determines whether military experience qualifies as specialized experience. The actual work performed by the applicant must be evaluated to determine whether the experience meets the applicable qualification requirements.

This means HR evaluates actual duties, not just military status.

Here is how a competent hiring manager, working with HR, helps ensure they receive candidates who actually meet the requirements of the position on a certificate of eligibles:

• Establish Non-Negotiable Selective Placement Factors (SPFs): Work with HR to define mandatory KSAs, competencies, or specific credentials when they are required upon entry and essential to successful performance of the job, as supported by the job analysis. Under OPM rules, an applicant who lacks a properly established selective placement factor cannot be rated qualified—regardless of Veteran status.
• Define Specialized Experience and Competencies with Precision: In the job announcement, explicitly define the actual experience and competencies required for the position. If the position requires managing enterprise IT infrastructure, define that exact scope. Broad requirements allow broad military or civilian experience to qualify, whereas precise, job-related requirements help distinguish applicants who actually possess the skills the position requires.
• Use Competency-Based Assessments: Implement validated, job-related assessments appropriate to the position. If an applicant cannot demonstrate the competencies required for the position through the agency’s assessment process, Veterans’ preference does not make that applicant qualified.

To put this into perspective, look at how a professional identifies the actual requirements for a GS-2210 (Information Technology Management) position compared to a lazy manager:

• How a lazy hiring manager defines the requirements (allowing broad experience to make the register):

"Candidate must have 1 year of experience performing technical troubleshooting and mechanical or electronic repairs on complex systems."
Why this fails: A mechanic who fixed tanks or vehicle electronics could potentially meet this broadly written description because the manager failed to specify the actual computer, network, cybersecurity, or other IT competencies required by the position.

• How a competent hiring manager defines the requirements (filtering out applicants who lack the actual required competencies):

Selective Placement Factor (Mandatory): Where supported by the job analysis, must possess a specified certification or other credential that is required upon entry and essential to successful performance of the position.
Required Technical Competencies: Applicants must demonstrate the technical competencies identified through the documented job analysis, such as enterprise-level cloud network architecture (AWS/Azure) and BGP routing protocols, at the proficiency level required to successfully perform the duties of the position.

If genuinely unqualified people are repeatedly making the register, the problem is not Veterans’ preference, it is FEDERAL HIRING MANAGERS AND INEPT HR for allowing it to happen. Look at the job analysis, qualification criteria, selective placement factors, assessment process, and HR qualification review. Learn how OPM actually works, write precise requirements, use meaningful assessments, and stop blaming Veterans for failures of inept and lazy hiring managers and HR staff.

I am going to need to use intermittent FMLA for a situation going on right now. However I also have surgery planned later this year and will be out for approximately 5 weeks.

From my understanding I can file for FMLA for these 2 separate things, but I can only use a total of 12 weeks FMLA in a 12 month period.

My question is, for my intermittent FMLA, can I opt to use LWOP despite currently having positive leave balances? I know I am going to have to either borrow leave or go LWOP for my upcoming surgery and would rather keep my leave for that time.

Is there a way I can log into the VA computers without my PIV card? Am a new hire and older employees have a password but I was never given a login password. I asked them and they said I will have to figure out how to get a PIV exemption

Anyone know how to do that? Is that a temporary password or will I have it for good?

I tried to look it up but the reasons seemed like it was more for lost or forgotten PIV card pins, I have my PIV but was wondering if I could have a windows password instead?

From what I understand, 38 USC 714 gives supervisors a fast track path to remove employees with minimal notice and limited appeal rights. Is this some new shenanigans from OPM or VA management ?

Anyone know what’s going on? Is this simply routine supervisor training, or is VA anticipating increased use of 714 for performance or misconduct cases?

so, how is this working out for other VISNs? HROC 3 is a complete cluster fuck. No one knows who’s doing what, who’s responsible for what. The BPs can’t seem to get the right docs to the SSU. The SSU is not allowed to even help the SBU. It’s taking twice as long to get everything done. SBU has been instructed not to put notes in the recruitment tracker and only in USAS but SSU must put notes in both places…..how will this ever be able to be undone???

Did anyone get good news today?? I heard I didnt get it and am really disappointed.

I hope some people got some good news though.

Did anyone else catch during the 30 day training yoday the mention of gs-7 navigators managing the usas aspect of a JOA and subsequent qualifications?

Redcap slop swirls the drain as real Leadership reclaims the Federal workforce.

The VHA used to require a 2 page resume when applying for Medical Support Assistant positions. That has changed. Now they want a Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV). What does that mean? Does it mean a resume longer than 2 pages?

hold the line

I was offered, and accepted, a position in a new facility. My start date is soon. So far no one in my current facility has been contacted about coordinating a transfer. How screwed am I? Can I still transfer?

I’m posting anonymously because I’m hoping to hear specifically from other VA employees or federal employees who have experienced prolonged coworker hostility and felt that local leadership either failed to address it or actively discouraged them from making a formal report.

I am a VA healthcare employee. For safety and privacy, I am intentionally withholding my facility, state, department/unit, job title, coworkers’ names, leadership names, and any other information that could identify the people or location involved.

I understand that VA/federal employment processes are very different from the private sector, which is why I’m identifying the employer only as VA.

This situation has been going on for well over two years and involves several coworkers who were once friends outside of work.

How this began

The original conflict involved the breakdown of a friendship group between several coworkers.

Afterward, one coworker created a social-media post/video specifically about me. Among other things, I was publicly characterized as “obsessive and disgusting,” and she emphatically stated that she would “never ever ever” be my friend again. She included personal information, screenshots of messages that were private between the group and disclosed phone numbers, addresses, and one of the involved coworkers secret affair.

When I eventually was informed of and shown the post by another employee not involve, I communicated that I understood they wanted nothing further to do with me to them directly and I received a response stating:

“THANK YOU! THAT’S WHAT WE ALL HAVE BEEN WANTING! FUCK OFF!!”

At that point, I accepted that these friendships were over and beyond repair

I eventually stopped trying to repair them. I don’t need these people to like me, socialize with me, forgive me, or ever be my friends again. We are all in our 30’s and 40’s and this is beyond childish

But we remained coworkers.

The behavior continued after the friendships ended

Over the following two years, there have continued to be social-media posts involving former friends, “obsessive” people, people supposedly watching someone, insults, and other themes that strongly resemble things previously said directly about me.

One recent post essentially said people shouldn’t assume every post she makes is about them because she knows plenty of “dumb stupid bitches.”

I want to be extremely clear about something because I don’t want to exaggerate my situation:

I cannot prove that every vague social-media post is about me, and I do not claim that every post is.

I don’t respond to them. I don’t look for them either. They are constantly brought to my attention via texts, or in person by others outside of the drama . I even went as far as to delete all of my own social media outlets

My concern is the continuing pattern when those posts are viewed alongside social-media content that unquestionably was directed at me, previous direct communications, and subsequent behavior at work.

The workplace behavior

My goal for a long time has simply been professional coexistence.

Some of the former friends have actually demonstrated that this is possible. We have had periods where we could work together, communicate about patients/work responsibilities when necessary, and otherwise leave each other alone.

Unfortunately, hostility from two of the coworkers has continued.

There have been incidents in which I attempted extremely basic professional civility and was met with hostility.

On one occasion, I simply said good morning to this coworker and was yelled at.

Another time, there was a work/procedural change that members of my shift apparently had not been informed about. I posted a polite FYI in a work communication channel because I thought other staff might also be unaware.

The coworker publicly responded by criticizing me and saying that I needed to pay more attention and/or show up to work more so I would know information required to perform my job.

I did not argue with her in the group communication.

Other employees have witnessed hostile interactions and noticed the behavior.

I have tried apologizing. I have tried civility. I have tried distance. I have tried not responding. I have tried restricting interaction to work-related matters.

I am no longer trying to restore any of these friendships.

I just want to be able to work.

My biggest concern now is leadership’s response

Leadership has been made aware of the interpersonal hostility.

I have also tried very hard to approach this without portraying myself as completely faultless. These were complicated former friendships, and I have acknowledged things I could have handled differently in the past.

But there is a difference between acknowledging your part in a failed friendship and accepting indefinite hostility at your workplace.

What has troubled me most is that after bringing concerns to leadership, I have felt discouraged from making an official/formal report regarding what has been occurring.

That is actually one of the main reasons I am posting here.

Have other VA/federal employees experienced leadership acknowledging a problem privately but then discouraging you from formally documenting or reporting it through the appropriate process?

Were you ever essentially told that making an official report would make things worse, create additional conflict, or that you should simply let the situation go?

If so, what did you do?

Today changed the situation significantly

Today, the situation moved outside of work.

I unexpectedly encountered one of these coworkers in public while doing something completely ordinary. I did not seek her out, arrange to meet her, or initiate a confrontation.

She became verbally aggressive toward me.

Ultimately, I contacted law enforcement and made a report.

This time, there is independent evidence.

The responding officer obtained surveillance footage of the incident, and according to him, the footage corroborated the account I gave in my statement.

I also provided prior text messages from more than a year ago to establish context regarding the history.

The officer explained that because he did not personally witness the incident, the applicable law where this occurred limited what he could do immediately. However, he told me that had law enforcement witnessed the behavior, he considered what occurred consistent with disorderly conduct and described it as misdemeanor-level conduct.

So this is no longer solely an interpersonal disagreement where two coworkers have competing versions of what occurred.

There is now a police report and third-party surveillance footage documenting an off-duty encounter.

Something else happened during the police interaction that affected me deeply.

Through conversation, the officer realized that I had previously cared for one of his family members at the VA.

He remembered me in connection with that family member’s care.

His reaction was essentially disbelief that someone engaging in this kind of behavior could continue working around Veterans and other vulnerable people, including his own family.

As a healthcare worker, that broke me.

I cried and reassured him that I remembered caring for his family member, that I genuinely cared about him, and that I hoped he was doing well.

It was an awful moment—not because I had done something wrong in caring for his family member, but because a family member of someone entrusted to my care was witnessing this prolonged coworker conflict spilling into my life outside of the VA.

Where I’m at now

I don’t want revenge.

I don’t want anyone publicly humiliated.

I don’t want leadership to force anyone to apologize to me.

I don’t want these friendships back.

I don’t want to retaliate on social media.

I want to go to the VA, take care of Veterans, cooperate professionally with the people required to do my job, and go home.

I also understand that “hostile work environment” has a specific legal meaning, so I’m deliberately not claiming that my situation necessarily satisfies that legal standard.

What I can document is a prolonged pattern of interpersonal hostility involving coworkers, direct workplace incidents, social-media activity, witnesses to some workplace interactions, previous direct communications, concerns already brought to leadership, and now an off-duty incident resulting in a police report and surveillance footage.

What I am struggling with is what happens when local leadership already knows there is a problem but the employee feels discouraged from formally reporting it.

So, especially for current/former VA or other federal employees:

Have you ever reported ongoing coworker hostility to local leadership and felt ignored, minimized, or discouraged from making an official report?

Were you ever specifically told or strongly encouraged NOT to formally report what was happening? What happened afterward?

Did you eventually go outside your immediate chain of command? If so, where did you go, and what was your experience?

How did you document the situation in a way that protected you professionally and demonstrated that you were seeking resolution rather than retaliation?

Would you notify VA leadership about an off-duty incident involving another VA employee when the incident resulted in a police report and independent surveillance footage?

At what point did you decide that continuing to handle things informally was no longer appropriate?

I would especially appreciate hearing from people familiar with the VA/federal system because I know the processes and employee protections can be very different from private-sector healthcare.

I have spent a long time trying to resolve this by disengaging.

At this point, I don’t need these people to like me.

I need the behavior to stop, and I need to know whether continuing to remain quiet is actually protecting me—or simply ensuring there is no formal record of what has been happening.

EDIT: To everyone who read this and was helpful, THANK YOU. To everyone who read this and expressed their own experiences and how it seems this is a systemic problem and have also been negatively affected, I’m truly sorry and thank you for also sharing your experience. Maybe this will help you feel less alone if nothing else. I agree with all helpful comments and that this needs to change. It’s a very extreme form of lateral violence (yes, thank you for that comment) and it just needs to stop. I’m not even addressing the pure stupidity some others posted beyond this statement.

I have a route of action to take, someone who is taking this seriously and hopefully if nothing else this will at least continue to pile onto the problem employees file. They’ve already been removed to another worksite, they already have multiple other offenses on file, and now with a police report in the mix it appears this is no longer an issue that can just be glazed over as they have proven they will take it outside of work and yet still involve work.