I have compiled enough evidence in this document to use for blowing the whistle on the vaccine mandate situation. The Department has changed regulations to claim authority to impose "emergency use products" on its employees, and did so illegally.
Additionally, they have used deceptive wording in their publications to trick employees into getting vaccinated, and those employees very likely thought they were getting an approved version, when in fact it was an EUA version. You do not have to get vaccinated.
There is also a very clear conflict of interest where the Department references and article as the reasoning for requiring vaccination as a condition of employment. An article written by several authors that are Pfizer consultants. AND in that same article, they admit it was paid for by the VA.
See document here and share far and wide, with your unions, senators and representatives. All evidence presented herein uses only official documents and publications from the FDA, CDC, ACIP, VA, Pfizer, and others.
Did you get form 0857b : Acknowledge of Receipt of your Reasonable Accomodation Request?
Did you get form 0857c : Interim Accomodation? They have 30 days from your initial 0857a to approve / deny. If extenuating circumstances prevent them from approving it at that time, they can issue form 0857c. BUT interim accomodations CANNOT be issued if it would present an "Undue Hardship". This is clear in the law, Title VII.
Therefore, if it has been more than 60 days, and I'm willing to bet it has cause we had to have our 0857a in by 11/22/2021, then that is prima facie evidence you have received a de facto interim accomodation. You have not been a threat to public health or an adverse impact on the unit.
Undue Hardship requires a specific set of analysis of impact. 29 C.F.R 1630.2(p) and 42 U.S.C. § 12111(10)
VA Handbook 5975.1 continues to explain interim accomodations as (emphasis added)
"should enable the individual to perform the essential functions of the job or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment without posing a direct threat to anyone's health and safety."
The VA is going to try and use the "Direct Threat" in 29 cfr 1630.2(r)
"(r) Direct Threat means a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation. The determination that an individual poses a “direct threat” shall be based on an individualized assessment of the individual's present ability to safely perform the essential functions of the job. This assessment shall be based on a reasonable medical judgment that relies on the most current medical knowledge and/or on the best available objective evidence. In determining whether an individual would pose a direct threat, the factors to be considered include: "
However, I am going to argue, because they have taken so long to process these requests, they have granted the interim accomodation. Which says they couldn't have if you were a direct threat. So you are not a direct threat AND they can't say undue hardship now since it wasn't an undue hardship then.
They totally skipped 0857f here. Which means there was a loss of avenues of redress which is a violation of due process because of the requirement to insure you are informed of your right to file an EEO complaint in 45 days and file a grievance with the union in 15 days. Any point on any of the form series 0857 that has these redress options that you did not receive that form is a violation.
Then, you have the option to submit for reconsideration from 0857f.
If you are in a "high-risk" position, they must be reviewed by OGC. If that was not done, another violation. You should ask if it was reviewed by OGC and then request that the review be provided to you. And then you should appeal that review.
If form 0857n is not in your personnel file, then they have failed to engage in the INTERACTIVE PROCESS.
Use form 5345a to request your individual health information, and in the other box, request all forms from this form series. These should be kept separate from your eopf because it pertains to protected health information due to it being about your vaccination status. If they are not there, request that they affirm in the negative that it was not found. If they are not in your medical file, ask if they could be located somewhere else. Get them to prove to you that they did not do them.
Print all email correspondence that are not delivered in confidentiality. Write encounter witness statements directly after any encounter with who said what and when. And put all this into a folder.
File an EEO complaint for religious discrimination if you are submitting a Religious Exemption request. If you get the right to sue, sue. If not, appeal that decision.
Pursue every avenue and don't stop.
This is not legal advice. This is education.
My supervisor submitted the 10230a undue hardship review back in Dec which stated I cannot be accommodated bc I can't social distance more than 6ft and complete my job duties. It went to OCG for review and I haven't received anything back. My wife got her 0857 denial letter from HR RAC. She responded back with what job series/pay she is willing to accept if a job is available. She put that she will take nothing less than her current position. She has never received anything back from HR since. They are slow rolling this out. There are also multiple lawsuits from what I understand from nurses just at our local VA. The same people who they are forcing this upon were forced to come to work covid + during crisis staffing. Patients or other employees were never notified they were exposed.
We have boatloads of staff out for covid (they were vaxxed). They are literally asking an unvaxed person, they are trying to reassign, to work overtime to cover.
How do you get the OGC review? Been trying to figure that out so I can figure the appeal process.
Yes I know we have 80+ vaxxed out with covid right now. And some who are sick but won't get tested bc they've been vaxxed and don't want to admit they were duped.
So for the OGC review when my supervisor filled out the undue hardship form it was through the LEAF system. It went straight to OGC for a VA attorney to review. I saw an email from one that agreed the person couldn't be accommodated. They also reiterated that President Biden and Sec of VA did not care what it did to staffing levels. I think they want the VA to fail so everything can be outsourced through community care.
I read through all the guidelines and forms for covid accommodation and there is no process for appealing. There is for medical or physical disabilities but they created new processes and forms just for covid. Also when I first submitted for an exemption it was an exemption but somewhere down the line they changed it to an exception which has a "rule breaker" connotation. And we are also referred to a non-compliant employees.
Now there has been one employee who got theirs approved after it was resubmitted. Their job description had they did bedside care for a % but the supervisor resubmitted clarifying it was very small percentage so the OCG attorney approved it. So that's the only way to appeal that I know of is to just resubmit if your supervisor will agree to.
Ok, thanks for all that information. Very helpful.
I did inform some of the Nurses to do their own analysis using 0857n, and instead of the "Can be done remotely", mark that out and write above it "Can be done at greater than 6 feet", Then take their functional statement and write each function on one line. It will probably take multiple pages.
Once complete, that is one day. Keep track of every shift and put these altogether, as evidence. I don't know if it will help, but it surely won't hurt.
I also agree they want to close the VA down. The Air commission was blocked though, so I'm not sure what's going to happen.