Restrictions on SES Would Widen

The panel further approved one of many bills (HR-4358) targeting SES personnel practices arising in light of scandals involving SES members at the GSA, the IRS and most particularly at the VA. It would shorten the appeals process for executives who are disciplined for performance or misconduct; deny pay retention for career execs downgraded into the GS; make career SES appointees subject to suspensions for 14 days or less; allow agencies to place career appointees on mandatory leave pending final disciplinary action; and require mandatory rotations at least every five years to a position that does not involve supervision of the same employees or programs. Those provisions effectively would expand government-wide several changes applied only to the SES at the VA in 2014. The House last year passed several other measures containing further provisions targeting just VA execs, as well as others aimed at the SES government-wide.