Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson sent a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald Tuesday requesting a whistleblower at the Phoenix, Ariz., VA hospital be transferred to another facility given the harsh treatment he has received since exposing misconduct at the facility.
Brandon Coleman, an addiction therapist at the Phoenix VA hospital, was placed on administrative leave from the facility in February of last year after raising alarms about the VA’s failure to address the needs of suicidal veterans. Coleman also told the Office of Special Counsel and, later, a local media outlet that VA officials had improperly accessed his own medical records.
In the letter, which was made public Wednesday, the pair of Republican senators explained the timeline of events that led to Coleman’s suspension from duty.
“[O]n January 13, 2015, the hospital’s interim director, Glen Grippen, met with the facility’s leadership and VA regional counsel to inquire whether ‘it were possible to remove Coleman from employment,'” the letter said. “The VA attorney present explained that under federal whistleblower statutes, Mr. Coleman could not be disciplined for publicly discussing his concerns about veteran care; however, Mr. Coleman could be removed for ‘unrelated conduct.’ Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Coleman was accused of having an altercation with a colleague.”
The VA placed Coleman on leave the following month.
Johnson and Grassley, who are founding members of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, requested information about Coleman’s case as well as his transfer to a different VA facility.
The VA has frequently come under fire for its reluctance to remove officials who retaliate against whistleblowers, yet its seeming willingness to punish VA employees who report wrongdoing.
A bipartisan group of 10 senators formed the Whistleblower Protection Caucus in February of last year to raise awareness and promote discussion of whistleblower retaliation across the federal government.
