On January 29, 2025, your 005 Board met with the County regarding the Veteran’s Claims Representatives (VCR) job duties. Previously, VCRs were asked to volunteer at outreach events and reoccurring sites, but now they are being assigned to go if they don’t volunteer. The issue UPE has is that outreach events are not listed in the job description of VCRs, but it is explicitly listed in Senior VCR: “Assists County Veteran Services Officer (CVSO) with outreach efforts.”
The County was grouping these events under “working at a satellite office,” but these events are not supplied in the same way as the office: no security, no private room, no printer, no Wi-Fi. VCRs don’t have a problem doing their job and working at an office with the same facilities, allowing them to properly file claims. We proposed that if the proper facilities aren’t available and VCRs don’t file claims at these events, office slips can be used to bring veteran contact information back to the office and schedule an appointment with a VCR.
The County is looking into this counterproposal and will get back to us. More to come, stay tuned.
UPE would like to thank Sylvia Garcia, Brenda Rhea, and Subject Matter Expert Shannon Graham for their advocacy.