One of the officials relieved of her duties following the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal in 2014 will probably receive a “do-nothing job” after a federal panel concluded she was wrongfully punished, according to the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs committee.
“This is yet another MSPB ruling that defies common sense,” Chairman Jeff Miller said in a Monday statement, referring to the Merit Systems Protection Board. “It will likely force VA to create a do-nothing job for an employee it has no confidence in.”
The MSPB, an independent agency that has the authority to review the decision to fire a federal employee, overturned the removal of Linda Weiss, a New York-based VA medical center director, in a decision released Friday. The MSPB panelists were appointed by President Obama, and after it decided Weiss must be reinstated, the VA said it would give her a job with no responsibilities for veterans’ care.
Weiss will not be given any job “where she would be responsible for patient care or safety,” said VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson, who took over that job in the wake of reports that VA officials had systematically denied veterans timely care and manipulated data to cover up its actions.
“In my judgment, a medical center director who fails to proactively address patient safety concerns or fails to be an advocate for vulnerable Veteran patients has no place in the VA,” Gibson said.
Miller has introduced legislation that would make it easier for the VA to fire corrupt or incompetent employees, but President Obama has promised to veto the bill if it should ever reach his desk. Miller hailed Gibson’s statement as an opportunity to tout his legislation.
“As long as we have a system in place that requires a similar standard to discipline federal workers as it does to send criminals to prison, accountability problems at VA and across the government will only continue,” Miller said. “Now is the time for Gibson to work with Congress to reform the federal government’s dysfunctional civil service system — something he was refusing to do as recently as last week.”
