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House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) said he's less concerned by the VA's measure of disciplinary actions and more concerned about whether whistleblowers feel they can approach leadership with their concerns.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel deals with much more than whistleblower cases — its mission also covers complaints of political activity in the federal workplace.
More than 20 House Democrats have their own concerns with the president's recent executive orders on the federal workforce.
In today's Federal Newscast, President Donald Trump presided over the signing of the "One Federal Decision" memorandum of understanding, in which seven of his cabinet secretaries took part.
From reauthorization and reorganizations of the Homeland Security Department to whistleblower protections, security clearances and burrowing, these bills are worth keeping an eye on as the Senate debates, amends and votes on them.
Longer probationary periods for employees in the competitive service and Senior Executive Service are among the many topics the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will consider this week.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will consider more than a dozen bills impacting the federal workforce this week. Here are a few worth watching.
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.
The executive order establishes the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protections as a new entity within VA. The new office will identify barriers and duplicative processes and resources to quickly disciplining and firing VA employees for poor performance or misconduct.
Several good government and oversight organizations, along with eight individual whistleblowers, wrote to House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) in support of the whistleblower protections included in the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act. But they had some tough criticism for the changes the bill would make to due process rights for VA executives.
The Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved the Transit Benefits Modernization Act to let federal employees in the D.C. metro area user “digital transportation companies” such as Uber or Lyft, to get to work during the subway repair effort.
The Office of Special Counsel offered a new approach for analyzing whistleblower retaliation cases, as the agency released its third amicus brief opposing higher burdens on whistleblowers. This particular case involved an employee at the Veterans Affairs Department.
July 1 will mark exactly three years since stronger whistleblower protections went into place for employees of defense contractors.
The Office of Special Counsel decided not to go forward with a proposed regulation that would have expanded the rights of contractors' employees to submit complaints to OSC.