A GAO report on disciplinary practices at the VA, while not focused on whistleblowing-related issues, found indicators of retaliation in that employees who report wrongdoing “are more likely to receive disciplinary action and leave the agency” than their peers.
It said that among all VA employees, on average 1 percent receive a major adverse personnel action–a removal, demotion or suspension of more than 14 days–in any given year. Looking at a pool of employees who had made nonanonymous disclosures, 2 percent had received an adverse action in the year prior to their disclosure, but 10 percent received one in that year and 8 percent received one the following year.
Attrition rates also were much higher among that group. Two-thirds had left the department a year later, compared to the 9 percent overall annual turnover of VA employees.
“According to VA officials, employees who have a history of poor performance or conduct may be more likely to file a disclosure with the OSC or allege misconduct, which could explain some of the disparities between whistle-blowers and other employees. However, we also could not rule out instances where retaliation by senior officials may have occurred after misconduct was disclosed,” GAO said.
GAO also interviewed six whistleblowers, who said that in addition to reportable disciplinary actions, managers “took a number of actions that were not traceable” to retaliate against them. “These alleged actions included being reassigned to other duty locations or denied access to computer equipment necessary to complete assignments, and socially isolating these individuals from their peers, among other things,” it said.
