Bill would empower VA secretary to fire any employee

The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee said he would introduce a bill that would empower the Department of Veterans Affairs secretary to fire any VA employee based on performance or misconduct.

Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), who has sponsored numerous bills over the past year aimed at increasing accountability at the department, said that "current civil service rules make it extremely difficult to properly hold employees accountable."

While the massive VA reform bill signed into law last August gave the VA secretary authority to remove Senior Executive Service employees for similar reasons, this legislation would cover all VA employees.

Under the new bill, the fired employee would have the right to file an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board within seven days of removal, and MSPB would be required to make a final decision on the removal within 45 days of the appeal submission.

The bill also would limit the secretary’s authority to remove or demote whistleblowers who have filed claims with the Office of Special Counsel, and would extend probationary periods for all new VA employees from 12 months to at least 18 months, and give the secretary authority to extend it even longer.

The legislation also would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the time, space and resources devoted to labor union activities at the department.

“More than a year after enduring the biggest scandal in VA history, in which 110 VA facilities maintained secret lists to hide wait times, the department hasn’t fired a single employee for wait time manipulation," Miller said in a statement. "Even worse, rather than disciplining bad employees, VA often just transfers them to other VA facilities or puts them on paid leave for months on end, ensuring taxpayer money is wasted and that bad employees spread their problems to other locations."

"That’s why our focus remains on giving the VA secretary more tools to ensure corrupt and incompetent executives face serious consequences for mismanagement and malfeasance that harms veterans," he said.