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The Merit Systems Protection Board released a report on nepotism in the federal government. The report includes examples of nepotism, as well as advice for agencies, employers, applicants and even the incoming administration, on how to avoid this prohibited personnel practice (PPP).
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.
A recent decision from the Justice Department is prompting the VA to stop using the authority it has under current legislation to fire senior executives more quickly. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said the news comes after an inquiry over whether the VA planned to make any policy changes after the DOJ decision, which ultimately ruled that a key provision in the VA Choice Act is unconstitutional.
The Veterans Affairs Department officially fired three more senior leaders at the Phoenix VA Health Care System, the hospital where reports of wait time manipulation first started two years ago. Two of the three VA executives can appeal their removals to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
The Justice Department says a specific provision in the Veterans Choice Act, which ultimately renders that the disciplinary decision from administration MSPB judge is final for certain senior executives, violates a clause in the Constitution. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says Justice will continue to uphold vast majority of the Choice Act.
Veterans and agency hiring managers have mixed thoughts on the success of the veterans preference program. But there is some consensus that current regulations are too confusing and complex for both veterans and agencies.
If we start with these seven basics, we could have the potential to design a more accountable civil service that is free of political influence.
Federal employee engagement has been studied extensively through the Office of Personnel Management's annual viewpoint study. Julie Osowski, senior research psychologist at Merit Systems Protection Board, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin about MSPB's effort to look beyond the external factors that affect employee engagement.
There isn't much more the Veterans Affairs Department can do, now that the Merit Systems Protection Board overturned punishments for two of four senior executives accused of misconduct. The VA handed out lighter punishments to the four VBA leaders, despite criticism from Congress.
Accountability in the Senior Executive Service will be at the center of congressional discussions on a new omnibus legislative package for the Veterans Affairs Department. Senate VA Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said he wants the VA and the committee to finish its work on the legislation by April 1.
A group of Republican senators criticized the Merit Systems Protection Board for overturning disciplinary actions taken against corrupt Veterans Affairs Department bureaucrats. The board and its array of administrative judges almost always uphold agency actions. Attorney Debra D'Agostino, partner at the Federal Practice Group, helps Federal Drive with Tom Temin sort things out.
The Merit Systems Protection Board processed nearly 30,000 cases in fiscal 2015, a 63 percent increase over 2014, according to an annual report.
Thanks to the flawed Choice Act Congress hastily passed in 2014, SESers exist in a sort of twilight of civil service protection.
John Palguta of the Partnership for Public Service has a command of the technical and legal complexities of federal employment. But he also has a feel for the human realities of being a public servant.