Bills
| 3.23.22

Does the VA Need More Flexibility in Firing, Demoting or Suspending Poorly Performing Employees? (H.R. 1259)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 1259?

(Updated September 21, 2019)

This bill would give the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs increased flexibility in terminating, demoting, or suspending any VA employee — including those in the Senior Executive Service — for poor performance or misconduct. It would also allow the secretary to reduce an employee’s federal pension if they’re convicted of a job-related felony, recoup a bonus provided to an employee who committed misconduct or poor performance before it was awarded, and recoup fraudulent or wasteful relocation expenses.

Whistleblowers couldn’t be terminated, demoted, or suspended without approval by the VA’s Special Counsel and until a final decision about their complaint has been made.

Argument in favor

The VA’s leadership needs more flexibility for dealing with employees who have performed poorly, whether it’s firing or suspending them, or recouping bonuses that they didn’t deserve.

Argument opposed

The rules that constrain federal agencies from easily firing, suspending, or demoting employees are there for a reason and the VA shouldn’t be granted additional authority on those fronts.

Impact

People getting VA benefits; VA employees and managers; and the VA.

Cost of H.R. 1259

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost $2 million over the 2017-2022 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) introduced this bill to give the VA secretary more flexibility in removing, demoting, or suspending VA employees for poor performance or misconduct:

“I’ve said time and time again that the vast majority of the employees at the VA are hardworking and have the best interests of our veterans at heart, but there are still too many bad apples within the department. Our veterans deserve better, and the VA employees who fulfill their duties deserve better.”

Several Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee expressed their opposition to this bill on the grounds that it would infringe on the VA’s union-negotiated grievance procedures and alter their collective bargaining agreement. In the bill’s committee report, they said that in practice the bill would “make it more difficult to achieve substantial accountability while exacerbating VA’s culture of whistleblower retaliation and a toxic work environment that allows that allows poorly performing managers to retaliate against frontline VA employees.”

This legislation has the support of 26 cosponsors in the House, all but one of whom is a Republican. No committee votes were held on this bill.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Veterans Health via Flickr / Creative Commons)