“An office in the Veterans Affairs Department that President Trump created to boost disciplinary actions for senior executives and protections for whistleblowers has done little of either, according to a report the office released this week. ”
“VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection recommended punishments in just seven cases between Oct. 1, 2018, and May 31, 2020, representing 0.2% of the total complaints it received, the office said in a mandatory report to Congress. The unit sent about 700 cases involving allegations of waste, fraud or abuse to other offices in VA, while it dismissed altogether or otherwise referred out about 2,400. The office took on 389 cases to investigate itself, leading to the seven recommendations for discipline.”
“Of those, six led to disciplinary recommendations for senior executives deemed to have been involved in misconduct or poor performance and just one was for supervisory whistleblower retaliation. The unit received and investigated a total of 179 complaints alleging such reprisal. The recommended punishment in the one case in which the office found wrongdoing was never enforced because the employee had already left VA. The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection noted its investigations led to the demotion of a medical center chief of staff who failed to separate an employee from an alleged harasser and the firing of two Senior Executive Service employees for discrimination…” Read the full article here.
Source: Office Created to Protect Whistleblowers and Discipline Senior Execs Is Doing Little of Either – By Eric Katz, August 28, 2020. Government Executive.
