Congressman David Roe of Tennessee is the latest offender. He’s authored a bill, HR 1259, that he says would help improve the delivery of services to our nation’s veterans by cracking down on bad managers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sounds good, right? But here’s the truth: Congressman Roe’s bill would undermine the VA’s ability to serve veterans by politicizing the workforce and gutting frontline employees’ basic worker rights.
This venomous bill would prevent doctors, nurses, benefits specialists, and other VA employees who are in danger of losing their jobs from seeking help from their union. Specifically, it would prohibit the union from filing grievances or using the arbitration process to challenge wrongful terminations, suspensions, or demotions.
Taking away an employee’s grievance and arbitration rights is a flagrant violation the labor-management contract that agency leaders and employee representatives agreed to.I can cite countless, real-life cases in which our union representatives have used the grievance process to save the jobs of hardworking VA employees, many of whom are veterans:
A disabled veteran in Alabama who was wrongly targeted for demotion after serving on a project team designed to reduce the backlog of benefits claims; A veteran in California who faced termination after questioning actions by his supervisor that were potentially unethical and unfair; A veteran who was fired after filing a workers’ compensation claim for an on-the-job injury.By eliminating the grievance and arbitration process, Rep. Roe’s bill would leave employees with just one avenue to challenge proposed demotions, suspensions, and firings: appealing to the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency headed by three political appointees.
But that’s not all. Rep. Roe’s bill would drastically shorten the deadlines for employees to appeal to the MSPB – from 30 days to seven days. And it would prohibit MSPB administrative judges from reducing penalties that have been proposed by the VA – for instance, reducing a termination to a suspension – even if the judge determines that the proposed penalty is too severe given the circumstances.
This isn’t about improving accountability at the VA, and it certainly won’t improve veterans’ access to quality care and earned benefits. It’s a backdoor way to dismantle the union and give political leaders near-unchecked authority to fire, demote, suspend, or discipline employees.
Rep. Roe’s bill is a wolf disguised in sheep’s clothing. Lawmakers must not be fooled.
This is one of three bills moving through the House that would gut the rights of federal employees in the VA and across government. Take a stand for our public servants by calling your lawmaker today at 855-976-5397 (D.C. Office) or 855-974-4792 (District Office).