(Tribune News Service) — Connecticut U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery wants a judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit that claims the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs discriminated against Black veterans for decades by denying applications for assistance and benefits at a higher rate than white veterans based on the agency's own data.
Avery and Connecticut U.S. Assistant Attorney Natalie Elicker contend in a 51-page document supporting their motion to dismiss that Hamden resident Conley Monk Jr. received his benefits, including retroactive payments, after he sought help from a Yale legal clinic, and the VA has been working to correct any discriminatory policies that have led to a denial of benefits for veterans of color.
"The United States Department of Veterans Affairs considers the issue of racial disparities in veteran benefit decisions to be of great significance and is working actively to address it," Avery said in support of the dismissal. Avery also pointed out that on March 2 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs directed the agency's leadership team to start an "equity team" to examine the disparities.
She expected the team to look at policies across the VA to deal with the concerns, "but this case does not provide an appropriate vehicle to address such issues," Avery said of the lawsuit filed in late November.
But Monk's attorneys from the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization as part of Yale School of Law say the federal government isn't moving fast enough to remove barriers for Black veterans to access benefits. They also believe the "equity" team will study racism, but will likely not take action for years.
"There are still veterans who are putting in for benefits, getting denied and passing away," said Adam Henderson, a third-year law student at Yale and a law student intern with the team representing Monk. "They won't get a second chance to apply."
According Monk's lawsuit, data he received through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that for nearly two decades ending in 2020, Black veterans were denied disability compensation claims at a rate of 39.5 percent while white veterans were denied 24.2 percent of the time.
At the same time, claims for white veterans were approved 37.1 percent of the time, while the claims for Black veterans were approved 30.3 percent of the time, creating a "statistically significant disparity," the lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for the VA said in December that VA Secretary Denis McDonough was dedicated to providing "world-class" services to veterans while acknowledging there has been a history of "racism" and disparities for Black veterans.
"Throughout history, there have been unacceptable disparities in both VA benefits decisions and military discharge status due to racism, which have wrongly left Black veterans without access to VA care and benefits," VA spokesperson Terrence Hayes said in an email in December. "We are actively working to right these wrongs, and we will stop at nothing to ensure that all Black veterans get the VA services they have earned and deserve."
The 74-year-old Monk is a Black veteran who was awarded several medals while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. But he agreed to an undesirable discharge while facing military misconduct charges for incidents he said were a product of untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought on by the conditions of war, the lawsuit said.
Monk has weathered homelessness and medical conditions, including a stroke with no help from the VA for decades as he fought for benefits, which were denied because of his discharge status, his attorneys said in the lawsuit.
It wasn't until the legal services organization took up his case in 2011 that he was able to get his discharge status changed, making him eligible for benefits, the lawsuit said. But he had to twice sue the federal government to get the retroactive benefits he was due, his attorneys said.
Through his own experiences and as part of his work with an organization he founded to help veterans, the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress, Monk had long suspected that Black veterans were being discriminated against in claims for disability compensation and other VA benefits such as housing, education and health care.
But it wasn't until his veterans council and the Black Veterans Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2021 that he was able to prove that the discrimination existed, the lawsuit said.
The records received by Monk and the BVP "demonstrate that for decades VA leadership, including VA secretaries, knew or should have known of pervasive, longstanding racial disparities in veterans' benefits for Black veterans," the attorneys said in the lawsuit. " VA officials also knew or should have known that racial bias in the military justice system was affecting the discharge status of Black veterans like Mr. Monk, who initially received an undesirable discharge."
He filed the lawsuit in November under the Federal Tort Claims Act after the VA failed to respond to his February 2022 administrative complaint about resolving the issues he endured, including being forced to repeatedly relive "the most traumatic moments of his life" as part of his many applications to obtain benefits.
Under the FTCA, the United States is liable for the acts of its employees. Monk is seeking compensatory damages and attorney fees since he was denied years of benefits even as he struggled with health issues related to his service.
Avery contends the lawsuit should be dismissed because the federal courts do not review veterans benefits decisions — a technical argument that Henderson said is "disappointing."
"One of the reasons that we filed the lawsuit is that they have said they recognize that there was discrimination," Henderson said. "With the lawsuit, we hope to hold them accountable to their words."
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The Veterans Affairs Building in Washington, D.C., is shown in this undated file photo. Connecticut U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery wants a judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit that claims the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs discriminated against Black veterans for decades by denying applications for assistance and benefits at a higher rate than white veterans based on the agency’s own data. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
