The Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday announced the departure of Acting Under Secretary for Benefits at the Veterans Benefits Administration Danny Pummill, an official who famously said in 2015 that it’s “almost impossible” to fire VA employees.
Pummill, who has served as an acting under secretary since October 2015, originally intended on retiring at the end of last year. However, Secretary Robert McDonald requested Pummill remain in this position after Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey’s resignation.
Hickey’s resignation came after accusations that she was responsible for management failings within the VA. Under Hickey’s leadership, the number of backlogged veterans’ disability claims rose to 600,000.
The VA said Pummill was instrumental in “reducing the compensation claims backlog, closing out 2015 with 75,000 backlogged claims” during his time as acting under secretary.
But Pummill also wasn’t able to escape controversy at the VA. He received a 15-day suspension in March for what VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson called “lack of oversight” in the VA employee relocation scam this year.
In that scandal, senior executives were able to take advantage of the VA’s employee relocation systems to give themselves positions in regional VA offices that required less responsibility, but earned them the same salary. They also reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in relocation benefits.
Pummill was also serving as the acting VA benefits undersecretary when it was revealed that the VA mistakenly declared 4,200 veterans dead, causing the agency to preemptively terminate their benefits.
Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary Thomas Murphy has been appointed to fill Pummill’s role.
