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According to the Veterans Affairs Department's new reports detailing all major disciplinary actions for its workers, VA is on track to fire fewer people in 2017 than it has during the past six fiscal years. Federal employment experts say the new adverse action reports lack some significant details about VA's efforts to improve accountability and transparency.
The Republic will continue to function if the MSPB lacks board members. But what about fairness and accountability?
It's been a busy couple of months for the Veterans Affairs Department. But VA Secretary David Shulkin said he wouldn't have it any other way. He's pushing the VA workforce to embrace risk and begin making bold, fundamental changes to the way it does business. He said he sees the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act as one bold change that will improve the department's employee morale and recruitment efforts.
These COOs frequently occupy deputy secretary positions that require Senate confirmation, many of which are vacant in the current administration. But it’s the people occupying these offices that are best positioned to make real changes in the way agencies perform their missions.
With a legal deadline looming, the Government Accountability Office took a look at how agencies are meeting the financial reporting requirements of the Data Act. Paula Rascona, the director of financial management and assurance issues at the GAO, fills in the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.
If the 114th Congress was about dissecting the Veterans Affairs Department's challenges, then the 115th Congress will act quickly to solve them, leadership on the House Veterans Affairs Committee said.
Agency culture and a poor understanding of the disciplinary process are some of the biggest challenges supervisors, managers and senior executives said they face when trying to fire an employee for misconduct. The Merit Systems Protection Board surveyed 10,000 federal managers about their understanding and opinions of civil adverse action procedures.
David Shulkin, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, earned high praise from the Senate committee during his nomination hearing. Changing the department's current Veterans Choice Program and crafting new accountability and disciplinary procedures for VA employees were common topics.
A package of oversight bills was voted out of the House during the early days of the 115th Congress. Some of the bills are similar to previous legislation that didn't make it out of the last session. The bills include more access to information for government watchdogs, as well as protections for whistleblowers.
Unless President-elect Donald Trump appoints two new members quickly, the Merit Systems Protection Board will likely have one voting member come March 1, when Chairman Susan Tsui Grundmann's term expires. But the upcoming seat-changes have federal employment experts wondering whether this is the beginning of the end for MSPB.
A carrot-and-stick approach works only when we reward the people who are making things happen.
The bill contains a number of provisions that most advocates for the federal workforce consider to be a substantial lessening of civil service protection.
The House Oversight and Government Reform committee passed a series of bills during a July 12 markup hearing aimed at improving and reforming digital record-keeping practices and making federal agencies and oversight more efficient and accessible.
The House passed a bill that would change the way agencies discipline and remove federal employees and members of the Senior Executive Service. One provision would put all SES members under the same, expedited disciplinary process that senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department had until the Justice Department challenged its constitutionality.