Here’s an original thought: If employees do not do their jobs, don’t give them bonuses.

The Associated Press (AP) published a story yesterday based on a report from the Center for Investigative Reporting that showed, “The Department of Veterans Affairs is withholding bonuses for senior officials who oversee disability claims, citing a failure to meet performance goals for reducing a sizable backlog in claims processing.”

According to the story, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will use the money saved to help with the backlog of disability claims. Is that an amazing idea or what?

In case you don’t quite understand the VA claims process, you are not alone. Apparently several people in the VA don’t either. Here’s a photo of some claims. Each file (wrapped in a rubber band) is basically a veteran’s life. A person at the VA will go through the files which contain medical records and determine if the veteran’s injury is connected in some way to his/her military service. Now imagine if you are homeless and you need those disability payments to make ends meet. Right now you might need to wait for two years. That’s the problem.

The AP also reported, “records show the VA paid its senior executives a total of $2.8 million in bonuses in fiscal year 2011.”

You can hire and train a lot of disability claims specialists for $2.8 million. Our country has a lot of disabled veterans (being in a war for over 10 years will do that). The VA contends they plan on “eliminating the claims backlog in 2015.” For some reason that plan sounds a lot like some of the other plans I’ve heard from Washington, D.C., like the plan we always hear that will balance the budget in ten years.

Maybe the halting of bonuses was a public relations move, but it was the right thing to do. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, should cancel all bonuses throughout the VA until the backlog of claims no longer exists. If the backlog has not been significantly reduced by this time next year, Shinseki should step aside and accept the fact the he failed to accomplish the mission.

Eliminating the VA claims backlog is one mission that the USA must accomplish. We owe our veterans at least that much.

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