More Restrictions on VA Executives Planned

The Senate bill is in part a response to dissatisfaction on Capitol Hill with the outcome of a 2014 law that restricted rights of VA senior executives, several of whom have been reinstated by the MSPB on appeal nonetheless. Under that law, the disciplinary time limits for them are shorter, the agency wins by default if a 21-day MSPB deadline to decide the case isn’t met, and there is no further right to appeal. The bill would instead allow appeals only to internal review boards; those appeals would have to be filed within 10 days and a decision would then have to be made within 21 days. There would be no right of appeal from there to MSPB, although appeals into federal court would be allowed. Also, under limited circumstances, the period in which misconduct occurred would not count toward retirement benefits. Further, SES-level medical directors and directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks would be put under the separate Title 38 personnel system that now applies only to medical professionals, allowing the VA to pay them higher salaries if needed to compete with the private sector in those positions.