An Atlanta VA staff member is under fire after sharing a photo of himself taking a bubble bath while working from home.
The unidentified staff member is a team leader in the scheduling department for the Atlanta Veteran Affairs Medical Center’s community care office. On March 17th, he shared a photo on his Instagram Story, showing him inside a bathtub filled with water and bubbles while his federal government-issued laptop is propped on the tub’s ledge as a remote staff meeting was taking place.
“My office for the next hour,” he captioned the photo.
The image was escalated to other employees and management. One VA employee expressed concern about the photo and the lack of empathy.
“It’s almost as if this employee is making a mockery of all the veterans. I can sit here in my tub and relax, and you just have to wait,” said the VA employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Army veteran Kevin Cleary slammed the VA’s leadership after seeing the picture, which went viral on social media.
“What’s the level of management going on there? Isn’t that indicative of the overall problem of getting an appointment? It’s because of the management that has things like that happen,” Cleary stated.
The Atlanta VA health care system has now launched an investigation into the image, though it remains unclear if the employee is still active with the agency.
“Upon completion of this investigation, we will take the appropriate actions,” the Atlanta VA shared in a statement.
