Employers Don’t Understand the VA System

One of the issues my clients deal with is the lack of money usually brought on by their Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and not being able to gain employment because of it. While they struggle to gain employment, they can wait for their Veterans Administration (VA) disability to be completed. It takes the VA a long time to get a veteran’s disability rating completed as they struggle physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially during the wait. I consistently tell my clients that they need to file a claim as soon as possible once they get out of the military. It appears to be easier for the disability rater at the VA to approve your claim quickly if it is submitted when you separate. The evidence is there, and the VA can’t argue that the problem is not service connected if it was documented while on active duty. I have been told that after a veteran is separated a year it is harder to get a disability approved because the disability can be blamed on something outside the service.

The longer a veteran wait to file the claim the more the process gets in the way. It is possible to get the claim processed in your favor, it just takes longer, and you continue to struggle finically.

This struggle is especially true for the older veterans whose medical issues have started to become a problem as they age. I have heard from too many veterans that they have not completed their disability claim because they would have to miss work, some have even said they were worried about being fired for missing work to deal with the VA and the system.

Once I retired from the Air Force, I ran into a major problem with an employer. They were unaware of the amount of time it took to deal with the VA, even after I told them.

As with every job you just start you have not accrued any leave or Payed Time Off (PTO). This makes it hard to deal with your VA appointments or any other appointments for that matter. As we know the VA can be on their own time and don’t care about your needs. I had to go to the VA on a consistent basis once I separated for my disability claim, multiple appointments at differing times on different days. I even submitted the claim while on terminal leave and it still caused an issue.

Because I was a “good troop” I followed the VA’s direction, not realizing that I could have re-scheduled the appointments. I thought that I was held to the appointment they set.

I found out the hard way that Employers do not like you taking off for VA appointments. Often,they believe you are looking for another job because they don’t understand how the VA system works. When it comes to employment, we need to tell our employers that we will be having VA appointments that you need to go to for your medical benefits. If they are unaccepting of the need it might be best to look for other employment. You have to you really ask yourself if you want to work for someone like that anyway? I did find another job as quickly as possible, I just had to be available, and it was a much better job.

For questions or comments, you can contact me at afterdutyvets@gmail.com or visit my website at www.afterdutyvets.com, and subscribe to my YouTube channel After Duty Vets or like us on Facebook at After Duty Vets.