Los Angeles Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program Generally Met Requirements After Hiring Additional Staff

Acting on a congressional request, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program at the VA regional office in Los Angeles, California. The program helps veterans with service-connected disabilities prepare for, find, and maintain suitable employment. Specifically, the OIG reviewed whether the program was sufficiently staffed to assist veterans, had demonstrated progress placing veterans on track to employment, accurately processed supply reimbursements, and assessed the number of veterans approved for the program versus those denied. The OIG found that the program generally complied with VA requirements, criteria, or goals for staffing, making required veteran contacts, meeting rehabilitation outcomes, and reimbursing veterans for supplies. The Los Angeles program also had an approval percentage comparable to the national program for the past four years. Despite staffing shortages from fiscal year (FY) 2013 to FY 2017, the program demonstrated progress toward placing veterans on track to gainful employment. The number of veterans rehabilitated through the program each year increased from 238 in FY 2015 to 446 in FY 2018. The OIG team determined employees generally made the appropriate number of veteran contacts according to program requirements and the program processed veterans’ reimbursement requests for academic supplies accurately. Therefore, the OIG made no recommendations for improvement. The OIG did identify an additional concern about the lack of oversight over program costs. However, the OIG only found two cases of the 30 sampled that lacked required approvals, and there was no fraud, waste, or abuse, so no recommendations were made.