Should The Department of Veterans’ Affairs Be Able To Take Back Employee Bonuses? (H.R. 280)

What is H.R. 280?

(Updated July 19, 2017)

In 2014, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs faced a huge scandal involving cooked books, excessive wait times, and preventable deaths. This bill seeks to punish those involved by granting the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs the ability to demand that employees repay (a part or full amount of) reward or bonus money that they received. 

That can be a bonus that was paid to a VA employee before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary would have to give advance notice to the employee and, if they wished, a hearing by the Secretary. But, if the Secretary did find it necessary to recoup payment, that would be the end of the line. The bill would ban reviews of the Secretary’s decision by outside agencies.

"Based on discussions with the agency, CBO expects that this provision would be used infrequently, primarily to recoup payments made to senior VA employees who were determined to have committed a serious violation of the agency’s standards of conduct. Of the roughly $400 million that VA pays out each year for awards and bonuses, about $4 million goes to senior staff." 

Argument in favor

Bonuses should go to people that do their jobs well. Many executives in the VA organization have done their jobs poorly and still got bonuses. It is unfair to the taxpayers and those employees need to fork the money over.

Argument opposed

This bill gives the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs gives the ability to take away bonuses willy-nilly. While taking away bonuses may be appropriate in the case of the recent VA scandals, it should be a rare occurrence. This bill authorizes too much power.

Impact

VA employees (current and former), Veterans receiving VA care, the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs, and the department's budget.

Cost of H.R. 280

A CBO cost estimate found that implementing this bill would decrease personnel costs by less than $500,000 over the 2016-2020 period.

Additional Info

In Depth: 

While the CBO estimate notes that these provisions would be used infrequently, and mostly on senior staff, there isn’t any language in the bill that limits its application to those higher employees. Theoretically, if the Secretary of Veterans Affairs wanted to take back the bonus of a secretary at a hospital, he could. 

That said, employees facing recoupment can get out of paying up their past bonuses by leaving the agency.

Of Note: 

So, about that scandal. In the summer of 2014, it was revealed that leaders at VA hospitals had falsified wait times, leading some veterans to die while waiting for care. Issues have also arisen at the benefits office, where some claims have been paid twice, while some go years without being paid.

The VA is currently facing huge demand as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Accordingly, the agency’s budget has been raised.

Current Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Robert McDonald has fired 60 senior staffers and is investigating 100 more — , that’s what he says. He still hasn’t. He also says that wait times have decreased 18 percent.

Media:

Sponsoring Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) Press Release

CBO Cost Estimate

Washington Post