Federal Manager's Daily Report

A survey of SES members shows high levels of concern about the potential impact of restrictions on appeal rights of the sort enacted last year for execs at the VA.

The survey by the Senior Executives Association said that taken together, the results “evidence high degrees of fear, frustration and demoralization regarding the notion of at will employment and the prospect that further erosion of employment security” could be enacted. Proposals are pending in Congress, as they were at the time the survey was taken last year, to extend the restrictions beyond VA and to impose more restrictions there in particular.

The association said that the restrictions in essence amount to at-will employment without the protections standard in the civil service against personnel decisions made for inappropriate reasons, including politics and personal favoritism. Nine-tenths of respondents called such a change a bad idea, and nearly as many said it would damage retention of current executives, increase the likelihood that they would retire as soon as eligible, and make it harder to recruit into the SES.

Many respondents commented that removing appeals rights “would greatly affect an executive’s willingness to openly advise or, if necessary, confront political superiors” as well as diminish trust and discourage whistleblowing.