AFGE’s National VA Council will soon begin bargaining over the Department of Veterans Affairs’ intention to resume the use of enhanced disciplinary measures that the agency previously used to wrongfully fire thousands of VA workers.
The disciplinary authority was included in the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. It empowered the VA secretary to quickly remove, demote, or suspend employees for misconduct or poor performance.
AFGE’s challenges to the brazen abuse of this authority ultimately resulted in settlement agreements between the VA and AFGE, including one in July 2023 following a decision by the Federal Labor Relations Authority finding that VA failed to bargain with AFGE regarding the impact and implementation of the law.
As a result of these settlement agreements, thousands of AFGE members at the VA who were wrongfully terminated were offered reinstatement and back pay.
Former VA Secretary Denis McDonough ordered the VA to stop using the enhanced disciplinary measures in April 2023, but President Trump ordered them revived soon after taking office.
On Jan. 23, the VA Central Office notified NVAC that the agency would be resuming the authority. For now, the agency claims it will honor our collective bargaining agreement to the extent that it does not conflict with the law, but NVAC nonetheless will be submitting a demand to bargain over implementation of the measures to ensure that the VA complies with its legal obligations.
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