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This bill would change the way some Department of Veterans Affairs employees can be fired, demoted, or suspended. It would end a special VA-only discipline system for certain workers and put them under the same basic rules that apply to most other federal employees. It would also restore older job and grievance procedures for some Veterans Health Administration staff, undoing changes made in 2017. In simple terms, the bill is meant to make discipline rules at the VA more like the rest of the federal government while bringing back earlier protections and review processes for health care personnel.
- It repeals parts of current law that give certain VA employees separate rules for removal, demotion, and suspension.
- It changes other federal rules so those employees are handled under the usual governmentwide process instead of the VA’s special system.
- It updates the law’s wording and section labels so the remaining whistleblower protection section is clearly separated from the discipline rules.
- It restores older disciplinary and grievance procedures for some Veterans Health Administration workers to how they worked before the 2017 VA accountability law.
Official Summaries
Protecting VA Employees Act
This bill modifies procedures related to removals, demotions, suspensions, and disciplinary and grievance procedures for certain employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The bill provides that employees of the VA must be treated the same as other federal employees in procedures for removals, demotions, or suspensions based on performance or misconduct. Specifically, the bill repeals certain provisions that implemented separate procedures for the removal, demotion, or suspension of VA employees based on performance or misconduct. The provisions repealed by the bill do not apply to senior executives, appointees in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), political appointees, or individuals who have not completed a probationary or trial period.
The bill also restores certain disciplinary and grievance procedures for certain appointed VHA personnel, specifically physicians, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants, and expanded-function dental auxiliaries. Specifically, the bill (1) reauthorizes individuals who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement to elect whether to proceed with a case via collective bargaining procedures or through the VA grievance procedures; and (2) restores the timing of the administration of cases regarding major adverse actions and other cases brought against specified VHA appointed positions, including to require the deciding official to render a decision within 21 days of receipt of the employee’s answer to a major adverse action charge.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 932 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 932
To amend titles 38 and 5, United States Code, to ensure that certain
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same
removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the
Federal Government, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 4, 2025
Mr. Fitzpatrick (for himself and Mr. Deluzio) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in
addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend titles 38 and 5, United States Code, to ensure that certain
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same
removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the
Federal Government, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting VA Employees Act''.
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SEPARATE REMOVAL, DEMOTION, AND SUSPENSION PROCESSES
FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) Repeal.--
(1) Title 38.--Section 714 of title 38, United States Code,
is amended--
(A) by striking subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and
(g);
(B) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (h)
as subsections (a), (b), and (c), respectively;
(C) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by
striking ``under subsection (a)'' each place it
appears; and
(D) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
(i) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4); and
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and
(6) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively.
(2) Title 5.--Section 4303(f) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking the comma at the
end and inserting ``, or'';
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``, or'' and
inserting a period; and
(C) by striking paragraph (4).
(b) Conforming Amendments.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in section 719, by striking ``under section 713, 714,
or 7461 of this title'' each place it appears and inserting
``under section 713 or 7461 of this title'';
(2) in section 714, as amended by subsection (a), by
striking the section heading and inserting ``Protections for
whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and suspension'';
(3) by redesignating section 714 as section 734;
(4) by transferring section 734, as so redesignated, so as
to appear after section 733; and
(5) in the table of sections--
(A) by striking the item relating to section 714;
and
(B) by inserting after the item relating to section
733 the following new item:
``734. Protections for whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and
suspension.''.
SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF CERTAIN DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
FOR PERSONNEL OF THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.
The following provisions of title 38, United States Code, are each
amended to read as such provisions read on the day before the date of
the enactment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and
Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-41):
(1) Section 7461(b).
(2) Section 7462(b).
(3) Section 7463(c).
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