The employees at the VA DORN Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina have grievances. Several senior social workers and medical support assistants at DORN strenuously object to the hospital’s unfair employment practices, especially during the worldwide Corona Virus Pandemic.
They have requested the VA DORN Medical Center address the following grievances:
A. Hospital and social managers have been insensitive, and disingenuous at best regarding worker safety, which resulted in unnecessary illnesses among staff members. Specifically, a growing number of disgruntled employees cite the following…
- At least five (5) staff members have contracted the Corona Virus in Bldg. 106 of the DORN Medical Center.
- Staff purportedly receive only one PPE mask per week, when other hospital workers are using one mask every two-four hours.
- Reasonable accommodation telework assignments were granted to a few staff, however those performing the exact same or similar jobs were denied.
- An employee requested “Reasonable Accommodation” accompanied by a letter from his physician, but did not receive a response for nearly two months. He later became ill, tested positive for the virus and is currently hospitalized.
- An employee with a letter of medical vulnerability from her physician was denied a request to telework, and offered a change in shift to minimize exposure instead.
B. Management demanded that employees physically occupy their work spaces amid the continually rising number of staff testing positive to COVID-19. To the DORN employees, this is clearly a reckless policy, and must be rescinded so that all jobs which can be carried out-off site are granted telework status.
C. Management has made it clear they have no desire to grant telework status. Unrealistic workload and productivity goals (even for specialty programs) designed to prevent granting of telework status have been put in place while offering few opportunities for achieving the productivity goals. We have found no such productivity requirements at other VAs.
- During a recent department meeting with all social work staff present, management warned that performance reviews may be impacted if new productivity goals set by the hospital Director were not met.
- The hospital Director attended a social work meeting brazenly informed those who inquired about telework they “don’t want to pay people for sitting at home doing nothing.” This type of mentality was also shared by the Social Work Chief who stated years ago telework would not be permitted as she “didn’t know if you’re just sitting at home doing your laundry.”
RACE ONCE AGAIN REARS IT’S UGLY HEAD
The DORN concentration camp, according to several employees, is beset with overt racial bias on a daily basis. It’s important to note that DORN serves a predominantly minority population, with a huge minority workforce.
- Over the past three years, social work management has degraded, harassed, and refused to promote numerous Black supervisors so that they either stepped down from their positions or transferred to other VA’s. There is an increase in GS-13 positions and each of those positions has a White social worker in the role. New positions have even been created to accommodate a White manager against whom several grievances were filed. Do those statistics matter to a corrupt management?
- To date, there are only two Black Social Worker Supervisors in the entire service line, one located at a CBOC and the other at the DORN Medical Center.
- Management discourages GS-11 employees with clinical licenses from applying for Senior Level GS-12 Social Work positions by sending emails informing them that in order to apply for a GS-12 position they must have their clinical license for two years, which is not indicated on the job announcement posted by HR. In addition, a supervisor position was recently filled with a White person who had not achieved the minimum time in grade.When we heard this, it reminded us of Dr. Alex Juitt, who was doing a superb job at the VA, then one day his supervisor said, he didn’t have the educational background to do the job he had been masterfully performing for nearly a decade.
This is a sneaky little game DORN plays. To get rid of someone, maybe because his/her skin is Black, management secretly changes the job description. Then one day, a supervisor will arrive to say… sorry, you don’t have the educational background to hold the job you have been doing. You will have to be moved out so we can put in one of our own people.
Look out folks, the DORN Gestapo has ways of destroying you.
COMMANDANT DAVID “SCHULTZ” OMURA
We realize, of course, that putting the face of Director David Omura in a Nazi uniform is a little over the top. We put Omura in the costume uniform that John Banner wore as Sgt. Schultz in the lovable 1960’s TV show “Hogan’s Heroes.”
For those who are old enough to remember, when Sgt. Schultz saw something he knew was wrong, he routinely would respond, I saw nothing, or I heard nothing, or I know nothing.
The uniform fits Omura perfectly because the classic responses of Sgt. Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes happens to accurately describe the management style of Director David Omura. We took the liberty to promote Sgt. Omura to the top job at DORN. He is now the Commandant of the DORN concentration camp in Columbia, South Carolina.
Remember, this is the same Omura that got rid of Alexander Juitt, who was doing a masterful job with the VA judicial outreach program. This is the same Omura who decided to promote Wally “I’ll sign anything” Harper that fraudulently signed x-rays for his uncle in the radiology department. This is the same Omura that… well we could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Commandant Omura runs the DORN concentration camp with an iron fist, which the upper echelon of the VA really appreciates. TheState.com published the Commandant’s “push-back” response to the grievances of the “prisoners” employed at the DORN camp.
Omura and his minions went on the attack, saying some of employee claims are based on inaccurate or misleading information. Omura told TheState.com he shared accurate and more complete information with the union, but that the organization pressed on at a Saturday protest and in a Sunday news release using inaccurate or incomplete information.
The Commandant’s office said it is true that some VA employees get only one mask per week, but that’s only for “non-clinical staff, not in contact with COVID-19 patients.”
The Commandant’s office went on to say that, “(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance is clear, not all staff require the same type and amount of PPE,” Question: How in hell do you know who has and has not contracted the virus? Scientists are finding that some people carry the virus and show no symptoms.
It’s interesting to note, that depending on what side of the fence you’re on, you may have a different perspective. When you’re on the front line battling a deadly disease, knowing of massive fraud and waste in the VA system, you wonder why they cannot provide you with more than one damn mask.
Commandant Omura said, “We’re in great shape with PPE and testing.” Well, commandant, if DORN is in “great shape” then why in hell do you not provide enough masks to at least make the employees think you care about them?
To downplay and mitigate the Corona Virus exposure for DORN VA employees, the Commandant’s office said that employees did test positive for corona virus, but only .008% of its workforce has been infected. Other health care organizations, have had a higher percentage of employees test positive. This sounds like the same insensitivity a military general has when saying, “There will always be collateral damage, don’t worry about it,” as he heads off to the officer’s club to get shit-faced.
You see, the commandant did not answer the question of whether the exposures at the DORN Medical Center were preventable, whether people were exposed because of piss-poor management. In typical political spin, the commandant’s office credits its “proper” use of PPE as a reason its workforce has been less affected by corona virus than some of the other hospitals.
COMMANDANT OMURA ADDRESSES
REMOTE TELEWORK POLICY
Commandant Omura stated through his minions that 98% of requests to work remotely since March 1 have been granted. The other 2% were either unable or not eligible to work remotely. In other words, the commandant picks and chooses who can flee to the safety of their homes and who will be forced to endure a higher level of risk.
Some of the employees were listed as absent without leave when they had COVID-19 symptoms and were awaiting the results of corona virus testing. The commandant’s team said this just isn’t true. Someone is lying here. Is it the Commandant’s office or is it the employee who was scare half to death thinking they had contracted the deadly virus? Should we accept the results when the VA investigates itself?
HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY
One grievance stated that employees were not receiving hazard pay despite working in an industry where they are more likely than others to come into contact with corona virus patients. The Commandant’s hench-persons admit this was true!
With more political spin and carefully crafted statements tending to mitigate the danger, the Commandant’s minions said VA employees are not receiving hazard pay because the number of cases among employees is so low it does not meet the required threshold, which says such pay should be given if “risks cannot be reasonably mitigated and employees cannot be safely protected,”
Again, it’s all a matter of perspective. If the Commandant and his hench-persons were on the front line where the risk of contracting the deadly Corona Virus is substantially higher, Omura and his Gestapo most certainly would be singing a different tune for sure.
PAID LEAVE ISSUE
Columbia VA hospital should be providing paid leave for employees who had been exposed to corona virus. In response, the Commandant’s office said it is following CDC guidance and VA policy regarding employees who are forced to quarantine or self-isolate.
If employees cannot work remotely, the hospital can give them weather and safety leave, meaning no money honey, or the employees can use sick days. But, what if you have little or no sick days on the books? Basically, the Commandant is saying, ‘you’re on your own MF. We don’t care if you can pay your bills or not, you’re just a piss-ant employee that can be replaced.’
SIDE-STEPPING THE RACE ISSUE
Commandant David “Schultz” Omura failed to address the grievance of racism at the DORN concentration camp. The whole matter of race is a radioactive topic these days and many people who hold positions of authority are doing everything they can to avoid even talking about the issue.
For the record, we at MilitaryCorruption.com believe that ALL LIVES MATTER. When we hear the term “Black Lives Matter,” we hear “ONLY Black Lives Matter.” The term is racist in and of itself. Combating racism with more racism just won’t work. The Black Lives Matter movement is nothing more than a clandestine Marxist attempt to topple the American government cloaked in racial strife.
Racism comes in two categories, perceived racism and actual racism. Generally, where racism is perceived, actual racism exists. The old adage is true, where there is smoke, there is fire. If the employees of the DORN concentration camp feel they are being treated unfairly, and in some cases, badly mistreated…. it’s because they are.
Does the DORN VA Medical Center (and concentration camp) have racism? Since the Commandant’s office uses statistics to not provide people masks and telework, we too can cite statistics. From all the communication we receive from DORN employees, we can say without reservation the medical center is rife with racism.
Commandant David “Shultz” Omura needs to immediately resign because of his obvious mismanagement of the DORN Medical Center. And, where the hell is Renee O’Shinsky? Where the hell is Dr. Stone? Where the hell is the Secretary of the Veteran’s Administration? What in the world are they doing as the DORN VA Medical Center mismanages itself right into the ground?
It’s curious as to why TheState.com did their article saying the medical center was pushing back against grievances, they didn’t even mention the racial bias at the DORN concentration camp.
By omitting the racial issue grievances in their article, TheState.com deceptively gave the false impression there was no racial problem at DORN. The article was intentionally deceptive in what appears to be an intentional omission concerning racism at DORN. We think the article in TheState.com was designed to give Commandant Omura political cover. TheState news organization should be ashamed of its pathetic reporting.
Commandant Schultz Omura, it’s time for you to be assigned to the Eastern Front. You also should be ashamed. Your management of the DORN Medical Center (concentration camp) is terribly lacking. Employees are being mistreated and God only knows how badly the Veterans serviced by the medical center are being treated. The employees and the Veterans deserve so much better.
Aside from all the other issues, why the hell did you go on the cheap where protective masks are concerned?
With all the money that any VA medical center wastes on any given day, you should be providing masks to any person in the building regardless of their respective job, and as many damn masks that will provide them with a reasonable sense of security. What the hell is wrong with you Commandant?
