Further Restrictions on VA Appeal Rights Considered

The VA has started discussions with Congress on imposing still further restrictions on appeal rights of SES members there, building on a 2014 change in law that already is seen as precedent for broader use in the federal workplace. Under discussion is moving senior execs at VA into the Title 38 system that applies to medical personnel there; it does not allow for appeals to the independent MSPB. That follows recent decisions by MSPB hearing officers overturning proposed discipline of three executives despite the limited review rights already applying there. The House last year passed legislation to impose similar, although not as strict, limits on appeal rights to all VA employees–a bill the White House has threatened to veto–and bills to restrict appeal rights of senior execs in other agencies also are pending. The latest proposed change at the VA could not be used broadly since Title 38 is a limited body of federal personnel laws, but the administration’s willingness to consider it–the VA itself apparently first raised the idea–could signal more openness to limiting appeal rights in general.