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August 19. 2012 9:03PM
Disabled workers on way out at Veterans Administration Medical Center
MANCHESTER — Sixteen disabled workers employed in the mail room and on the switchboard at the Veterans Administration Medical Center soon will be out of work, their jobs filled by eight full-time federal employees.
“What we are doing is converting to federal positions,” said VAMC spokesman Stella Lareau. The conversion will be completed after a contract with Goodwill Northern New England Employment Services, which employs the disabled workers, expires on Sept. 30.
Michelle Smith, communications manager for Goodwill based in Portland, Maine, said the VA has not told her agency who will fill the jobs.
“I imagine it may be veterans,” she said.
Peter Gerrard, one of the disabled employees who works the switchboard, said employees only learned they would be laid off when someone saw their jobs posted on the U.S. government jobs website.
“It's actually a very horrible thing,” said Shannon Jennings, who supervises the workers and who also will lose her job. The 16 employees, who have worked there for 10 to 17 years, have disabilities ranging from muscular dystrophy to blindness to brain injuries, she said. The jobs, besides providing an income, also add stability to their lives, she said.
Jennings explained workers man the switchboard, page doctors, make overhead announcements, sort and deliver mail and run the photocopier. They provide 24/7 coverage.
The jobs, she said, are perfect for the disabled; some work just a few hours a week while a couple log 40 hours weekly.
Lareau, in an email sent Friday, said the positions were announced both internally and to the public through the USAJobs.gov website.
“I want to emphasize the contract between the Manchester VAMC and Northern New England Employment Services is not being terminated, but rather, expires on Sept. 30, 2012,” she wrote.
Candidates meeting the established criteria, she said, may be considered for hire under that announcement. The hospital is non-discriminatory, and as with all federal agencies, follows the hiring guidelines set forth by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and federal law, which provides for due consideration of preference eligible candidates, Lareau wrote.
Gerrard said disabled employees who did apply for the jobs did not get them.
Smith said there was a miscommunication on the part of the Veterans Administration and that Goodwill officials were starting to meet individually with the employees beginning Friday. The challenge, she said, is the employees work three different shifts providing around-the-clock coverage.
Jennings said all 17 employees — 14 part-time, 2 full-time and their supervisor — will be laid off when the contract expires.
Goodwill is working with U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte, as well as the New Hampshire Rapid Response Team and its own human resources department, and Workforce Solutions team, to try to find all the workers new employment, according to Jennings.
It will be a challenge, she said, because the positions pay well — $12 to $14 an hour — and because the workers have significant disabilities.
Gerrard said the majority of the employees are unable to work full-time, because of their disabilities, and/or because they will lose Social Security disability if they exceed earning limits. Gerrard earns about $12 an hour.
The 17 workers will be replaced by eight full-time employees, two in the mail room, five for the switchboard and one lead operator, according to Jennings. The jobs pay between $30,598 to $44,000 annually.
Jennings said she does not know why the VA has decided to go with full-time, federal employees but maintains it will cost the government more. She said there were no complaints about the work the disabled employees did.
Smith said Goodwill has been under federal contract to the VA since 1999. The current contract is for $378,000, $300,000 for the switchboard and $78,000 for the mail room, federal monies designated for the employment of the blind or others with significant disabilities.
pgrossmith@unionleader.com
“What we are doing is converting to federal positions,” said VAMC spokesman Stella Lareau. The conversion will be completed after a contract with Goodwill Northern New England Employment Services, which employs the disabled workers, expires on Sept. 30.
Michelle Smith, communications manager for Goodwill based in Portland, Maine, said the VA has not told her agency who will fill the jobs.
“I imagine it may be veterans,” she said.
Peter Gerrard, one of the disabled employees who works the switchboard, said employees only learned they would be laid off when someone saw their jobs posted on the U.S. government jobs website.
“It's actually a very horrible thing,” said Shannon Jennings, who supervises the workers and who also will lose her job. The 16 employees, who have worked there for 10 to 17 years, have disabilities ranging from muscular dystrophy to blindness to brain injuries, she said. The jobs, besides providing an income, also add stability to their lives, she said.
Jennings explained workers man the switchboard, page doctors, make overhead announcements, sort and deliver mail and run the photocopier. They provide 24/7 coverage.
The jobs, she said, are perfect for the disabled; some work just a few hours a week while a couple log 40 hours weekly.
Lareau, in an email sent Friday, said the positions were announced both internally and to the public through the USAJobs.gov website.
“I want to emphasize the contract between the Manchester VAMC and Northern New England Employment Services is not being terminated, but rather, expires on Sept. 30, 2012,” she wrote.
Candidates meeting the established criteria, she said, may be considered for hire under that announcement. The hospital is non-discriminatory, and as with all federal agencies, follows the hiring guidelines set forth by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and federal law, which provides for due consideration of preference eligible candidates, Lareau wrote.
Gerrard said disabled employees who did apply for the jobs did not get them.
Smith said there was a miscommunication on the part of the Veterans Administration and that Goodwill officials were starting to meet individually with the employees beginning Friday. The challenge, she said, is the employees work three different shifts providing around-the-clock coverage.
Jennings said all 17 employees — 14 part-time, 2 full-time and their supervisor — will be laid off when the contract expires.
Goodwill is working with U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte, as well as the New Hampshire Rapid Response Team and its own human resources department, and Workforce Solutions team, to try to find all the workers new employment, according to Jennings.
It will be a challenge, she said, because the positions pay well — $12 to $14 an hour — and because the workers have significant disabilities.
Gerrard said the majority of the employees are unable to work full-time, because of their disabilities, and/or because they will lose Social Security disability if they exceed earning limits. Gerrard earns about $12 an hour.
The 17 workers will be replaced by eight full-time employees, two in the mail room, five for the switchboard and one lead operator, according to Jennings. The jobs pay between $30,598 to $44,000 annually.
Jennings said she does not know why the VA has decided to go with full-time, federal employees but maintains it will cost the government more. She said there were no complaints about the work the disabled employees did.
Smith said Goodwill has been under federal contract to the VA since 1999. The current contract is for $378,000, $300,000 for the switchboard and $78,000 for the mail room, federal monies designated for the employment of the blind or others with significant disabilities.
pgrossmith@unionleader.com
