The VA collects data related to employee misconduct and discipline, but that data comes through numerous different systems that provide only a partial picture, making it difficult to analyze, GAO has said.
GAO said that six of those systems collect information on disciplinary actions that affect employee leave and pay, but not information on other types of disciplinary actions and does not record the offense or date of occurrence. Another six are operated by VA components that collect information only on their own employees’ misconduct and disciplinary actions.
All 12 suffer from data reliability issues such as missing data, lack of identifiers, and lack of standardization among fields, it added, and the department was inconsistent in following its own policies on retaining information related to how it reached final agency decisions on misconduct allegations. Lack of records showing that employees were informed of rights such as their entitlement to legal representation “suggests that individuals may not have always received fair and reasonable due process.”
Further, “VA did not consistently ensure that allegations of misconduct involving senior officials were reviewed according to investigative standards and these officials were held accountable,” it said, and disciplinary action proposed was not taken for five of 17 senior officials with substantiated misconduct.
The report made more than a dozen recommendations to both GAO management and the department’s IG’s office.
