VA audit: Seattle incorrectly told vets they’d lose benefits

TACOMA — Auditors say the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Seattle incorrectly sent letters to dozens of military veterans saying they would lose their unemployment benefits.

The News Tribune reported that a VA Inspector General report released this week says the overworked Seattle office lost track of records the veterans had submitted. The mail audit was conducted after a complaint implied that about 1,000 pieces of unread mail from veterans were being stored indefinitely in a yellow bucket.

Auditors visited the office in April and did not find such a bucket. But they say employees seemed familiar with what they called the “yellow bucket project.”

They took a sampling of 132 employment questionnaires and found that a fifth of veterans had been notified of an incorrect reduction or cancellation in benefits.