Our Fallen Contractors in our thoughts this Memorial Day

 

Crisis Hotline takes record number of calls

Army Times   May 25, 2011

The Veterans Affairs Department’s Veterans Crisis Line received 14,000 calls in April, the highest monthly volume ever recorded for the four-year-old suicide prevention program.

“Every day last month, more than 400 calls were received,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairwoman who disclosed the call volume during a Wednesday hearing. “While it is heartening to know that these calls for help are being answered, it is a sad sign of desperation and difficulties our veterans face that there are so many in need of a lifeline.”

The hotline, established in 2007, is a suicide prevention and crisis counseling program available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number is 800-273-8255.

Antonette Zeiss, VA’s chief mental health officer, said that since the 2007 launch, the call center has received more than 400,000 calls, referred 55,000 veterans to local suicide prevention coordinators for same-day or next-day help and initiated 15,000 “rescues” of callers near suicide.

Please see the original here

U.S. Insurance Firm CNA Neglects Survivors of Iraqi Translators, May Face Criminal Charges

U.S. insurer faces criminal probe over Iraqis’ unpaid death benefits

By T Christian Miller at ProPublica   May 23, 2011  and The LA Times

An administrative law judge has referred a U.S. insurance company for criminal investigation after the firm failed to pay benefits owed to survivors of Iraqi translators killed while working for the American government.

Under a federally funded program, Chicago-based CNA Financial Corp. provides insurance coverage to contractors killed or injured while working overseas for the United States. The slain translators were helping to train Iraqi police recruits.

Instead of paying out benefits, however, CNA withheld information from the federal government and avoided making payments to nine families who lost relatives in a 2006 attack, according to court files and interviews. One widow lost her home, unable to keep up payments after her son and other translators were ambushed by insurgents in the southern city of Basrah, one of her attorneys said.

In a ruling this week, administrative law Judge Daniel Solomon ordered CNA to begin making payments to the families. In an unusual move highlighting the government’s concern over potential fraud, the judge also told the Labor Department, which oversees the program, to investigate whether the insurance carrier should face criminal charges. A Labor spokesman said the agency would “fully investigate” the allegations to determine whether to ask the Justice Department to prosecute the case.

CNA said it was also looking into the case.

“We are investigating the matter and will take all appropriate actions,” said Katrina Parker, a company spokeswoman.

Attorneys for the families said they believe CNA withheld documents to avoid making payments.

“These were people who helped the U.S. in Iraq,” said Agnieszka Fryszman, an attorney for the families. “Their families were kicked to the curb when they were most in need of help.”

CNA’s failure to pay out benefits underscores the continuing problems with the Defense Base Act, essentially the workers compensation system for overseas federal contractors.

The system was little-used until the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sent hundreds of thousands of private contractors onto the battlefield. All told, the government has paid out nearly $1.5 billion in premiums since 2001.

Reporting in 2009 by ProPublica, the Los Angeles Times and ABC’s 20/20 [1] revealed deep flaws in the program. Workers fought long battles for medical care, including such things as prosthetic devices and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Foreign workers, including Iraqi and Afghan translators, often did not receive payments or treatment. The Labor Department seldom took action to enforce the law. One official called the system a “fiasco.”

Congress subsequently held hearings [2] that showed that American insurers were reaping large profits from the program. Documents showed that CNA reported the highest profits margins, taking in nearly 50 percent more in premiums than it paid out in benefits.

The case decided this week began on Oct. 29, 2006, when insurgents boarded a bus and killed 17 Iraqi-born translators working in Basrah for Sallyport Global Services, a logistics and security contractor. The insurgents later scattered their bodies around the city.

Under the law, CNA was responsible for paying death benefits to the translators’ dependents. CNA paid when translators had children and spouses, according to interviews and court records, but not to other survivors. Several translators had no children, but supported parents or other family members.

In such cases, the Labor Department demands proof that survivors relied on contractors’ earnings. CNA hired investigators who interviewed nine families, confirmed their eligibility, and even set up bank accounts. But CNA withheld portions of the investigators’ findings when it submitted the claims to the Labor Department, court records show.

One CNA file shows that the slain translator had supported his mother, a widow, since his father was killed in the Iraq-Iran war. The town council even issued a statement of support, confirming the translator was his mother’s “sole provider.” Another CNA file shows that another translator killed in the ambush was sole support for his family, which “could be described as very poor.”

But those pages were missing from the information CNA submitted to the Labor Department. As a result, Labor officials accepted CNA’s declaration that there were no dependents to pay in any of the nine cases.

The translators’ attorneys at Cohen Milstein, a well-known Washington firm doing pro bono work on the case, estimated that CNA owed a total of about $500,000 to the nine families. Instead, CNA paid about $45,000 into a special federal fund set up to help support the workers compensation system.

The company subsequently recovered some of that money plus additional fees under an obscure law—the War Hazards Compensation Act—that allows insurance carriers to recoup costs for contractors killed in hostile acts, court documents show.

In one case, CNA paid $5,000 into the special fund and $518 to a translator’s family for burial expenses, but was reimbursed $9,289 by the federal government for investigating and handling the claims.

A Sallyport official said the company believed that CNA had made payments to all of the translators’ families except one, which declined to accept money because of security concerns.

In an emailed statement, the company declined further comment due to the litigation. It said it would “continue to monitor the situation and support the families within our remit.”

Two New Contractor PTSD Suicides this week

It is with sorrow that knows no bounds this evening

that we must announce that

the contractor community has lost two more lives

to PTSD

only five days apart

They were both former DynCorp employees covered by CNA under the Defense Base Act

Two families, which both include children, left with the horror and guilt that suicide leaves in it’s wake

Out of respect for these grieving families we are withholding details until a more suitable time

Please keep these families in your hearts and prayers

May our departed friends find the peace they were deprived of here

___

To those of you suffering from PTSD,  to those friends of these contractors suffering from PTSD, please do not wait for for your employer or the insurance company to fulfill their obligations.

Both of these deaths could easily have been prevented by proper screening and prompt treatment.

Senators Press for Burn Pit Updates from the Military

TAMPA BAY ONLINE  May 18, 2011

Armed with a new study showing military personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq are eight times more likely to suffer respiratory problems than those who are not, two senators are asking the Department of Defense to provide an immediate update on what is being done about the problem of burn pits, which have operated in both countries.

Armed with a new study showing military personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq are eight times more likely to suffer respiratory problems than those who are not, two senators are asking the Department of Defense to provide an immediate update on what is being done about the problem of burn pits, which have operated in both countries.

Democrats Bill Nelson of Florida and Charles Schumer of New York got involved with the issue after the December death of retired Army Sgt. Bill McKenna, who was born in New York but lived in Spring Hill.

McKenna, 41, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, died at HPH Hospice, of Spring Hill, from cancer he contracted after constant exposure to the thick smoke that wafted almost every hour of every day across Balad Air Base in Iraq, where McKenna was stationed about 18 months.

In bases across Afghanistan, amputated body parts, Humvee parts, human waste, plastic meal trays and other garbage are incinerated using jet fuel in large trenches called burn pits. The military halted the practice in Iraq last year.

Please read the entire story here

Text of S. 669: Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act Amendments of 2011

A bill re-introduced in the United States Senate and backed by maritime insurers and employers

would substantially reform existing Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act procedures

and the benefits afforded injured and sick workers.

A Bill

To ammend the Longshore Harborworker’s Compensation Act to improve the compensation system and

for other purposes.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s112-669

PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Claims to be Expedited

According to a Department of Labor’s DBA Claims Administration Status Report dated October 2008

DELAYED CLAIMS DECISIONS ADD TO THE STRESS AND ANXIETY OF THE CLAIMANT

A PTSD claim is presumed to compensible under the Act unless rebutted by substantial evidence

Fast Track PTSD cases through the dispute resolution process

ASSIST the parties to gather factual and medical evidence needed for claims resolution

Schedule informal conferences promptly on request

After Conference if OWCP claims examiners recommendations are rejected, refer the case promptly for hearing upon request.

KBR truck drivers awarded class arbitration status for unpaid overtime worked (docs)

by MsSparky May 16, 2011

KBR truck drivers win a major victory in the ongoing battle with KBR regarding being forced to work “off the clock”. The KBR management war cry of “84 and no more”, meaning a driver could only document 84 hours per week on their time sheet even though they were forced to work much more, meant drivers were forced to risk their lives and work for free in a profession with the highest civilian casualty rate in Iraq.

KBR truck drivers initiated class arbitration proceedings before Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (JAMS) on November 1, 2007, asserting that KBR breached their employment contracts with them and other employees by failing and refusing to pay them for all hours worked.

JAMS arbitrator, Michael Loeb granted class certification Thursday to KBR truck drivers who said KBR Inc. breached an employment agreement by pressuring them to under-report hours worked under the military’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract in Iraq.

While most cases involving unreported overtime should be dealt with on an individual basis because they usually involve different supervisors giving different orders to different employees, the current dispute is not a “typical ‘off-the-clock’ case,” according to arbitrator Michael Loeb.

In the Certification Award, Arbitrator Loeb granted petitioners’ motion to certify a class of truck drivers and convoy leads who worked for KBR in Iraq between November 1, 2003 and the present.

NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION FOR ORDER CONFIRMING ARBITRATOR’S APRIL 28, 2011 AWARD GRANTING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION AND APRIL 28, 2011 AWARD CONFIRMING WAIVER OF RIGHT TO CHALLENGE WHETHER ARBITRATION CLAUSE ENCOMPASSES ARBITRATION OF CLASS CLAIMS

The law firms involved with this case are:

Rukin Hyland Doria & Tindall

Skikos Crawford Skikos & Joseph

Altshuler Berzon

Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson

I hope other defense contractors are taking note. KBR has gotten away with these and other employee abuses for years, but it looks like it’s finally catching up with them and I do hope it costs them big. If I’m not mistaken, forcing someone to work and not paying them is and always has been considered slavery!

Where was the DoD in all this?  Why were they allowing this to go on?   Ms Sparky  

Please see the original post at MsSparky’s

Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher rate of debilitating respiratory illness than those deployed elsewhere

Shirley Wang WSJ May 16, 2011

Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher rate of debilitating respiratory illness than those deployed elsewhere, according to a new study that bolsters concerns among some medical professionals and members of Congress about the potential harm to troops from toxic chemicals and dust in the Middle East.

The findings, which will be presented Wednesday at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in Denver, place renewed urgency on getting at the root of why some young, previously healthy soldiers have been returning from the Middle East complaining of symptoms including shortness of breath and dizziness. In many cases, the soldiers can no longer pass a required physical to continue with active duty.

There appears to be “a modest increase in the incidence of respiratory symptoms in those individuals who have returned from deployment to Southwest Asia,” said Craig Postlewaite, director of the Department of Defense’s Force Readiness and Health Assurance office.

Please read the entire article here

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Young soldier hangs himself after seeing five comrades killed in Afghanistan

The Daily Mail UK May 16, 2011

A traumatised young soldier who saw five of his comrades die in action killed himself after becoming unable to cope with the loss, his friends have claimed.

The body Rifleman Allan Arnold was discovered by dog walkers on May 2 just hours after he had been out socialising with civilian friends while on leave. 

The 20-year-old, from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was found hanged in a copse.

Close friend Andy Higgins, who had known Allan for six years, said he was unable to cope with losing so many close members of his regiment in Afghanistan.

Please read more here