Veterans Hospital Worker Can't Get Benefits After Shooting

Tuesday, May 21, 2019 | 0

A cleaning crew worker who was hurt in the February shooting at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Florida says he's been denied compensation for his injuries, but is unable to work and and feels betrayed by the federal workers' compensation system.

"I took one for the team, but this is the way your team treats you," said Albert Gaines, who has worked in housekeeping at the Riviera Beach, Florida, veterans hospital since 2016. "People can't believe what I've gone through."

The disagreement has been over some old injuries that Gaines may have aggravated diving for cover when the shooter opened fire, according to a news report. Gaines and at least one of his doctors said he also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the violence, but federal comp does not cover that for most workers.

Gaines, 65, was in a hallway at the hospital when a nurse began shouting about a man with a gun. Gaines said he dove through a partially opened doorway to escape, which aggravated his knee and shoulder problems. Gaines was also grazed in the buttocks by a bullet in the shooting, but the wound was treated and reportedly healed quickly.

VA officials have said Gaines' knee and shoulder injuries are pre-existing and do not qualify him for compensation benefits. He's been offered light-duty reception work at the hospital, but he said he's too disturbed by the memory and in too much pain to work the desk job.

Attorneys who handle federal workers' compensation cases said the system is famous for denying claims and making the process difficult for injured federal workers. Boston attorney Dan Shapiro, one of fewer than 100 U.S. lawyers who handle federal comp, said many of his typical claims come from postal workers. Despite years of walking miles per day and carrying heavy mail satchels, postal workers are often denied for knee-replacement surgery.

"Do you think his job contributed to some degree to his need for knee replacement surgery?" Shapiro asked rhetorically about a postal client. "Nine out of 10 people will say yes and the 10th works for the Department of Labor. I get that case denied every single day by the Department of Labor."

Many employees have little recourse because so few attorneys handle federal compensation cases, he said. The worker must pay an attorney upfront, a financial burden for some low-paid federal workers.

That means most workers must represent themselves in a complicated process that is designed to prevent them from getting benefits, he said.

Further, employees can't go to court to seek an independent decision by a jury or a judge. By law, all claims are resolved through an administrative process. The final arbiter is the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board in Washington, D.C.

In a letter to the workers' compensation agency, Gaines, a former Marine, said he has been treated unfairly.

"I feel like a criminal alleged guilty of a crime and must prove my innocence after such a traumatic ordeal in the performance of my duties as a federal employee," he wrote. "It's obvious my words are counted as nothing and my actions even less — I suffer everyday through no fault of my own."