exclusive: A right-wing research group says the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Biden administration has repaid more than $130 million to 1,700 people fired under a Trump-era law that eases accountability for federal employees. claims.
The America First Institute for Policy Studies plans to release its findings soon through a Freedom of Information Act filing.
The investigation also found that the Veterans Administration reinstated more than 100 laid-off employees who had been fired for indiscretions ranging from negligence to falling asleep on duty. No other specific violations were listed in the dozens of firings listed in documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
After the 2017 law was passed, the VA reportedly failed to negotiate with public employee unions and was ordered to attend arbitration. As a result, sources said, the Veterans Administration will require all previously fired employees to be rehired, including those fired for “gross misconduct” such as patient abuse or harassment. It is said that there was a possibility that
The agency ultimately reached a settlement with the union in 2023, and so far only 106 of the 1,700 employees offered financial compensation have been reinstated.
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July 22, 2019 at the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, DC. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images)
The investigation found that of the more than 4,000 employees who were laid off, more than 1,700 received back pay or compensation.
At that rate, the total amount owed to the entire group of former employees would be $300 million, the AFPI statement said.
Robert Wilkie, President Trump's former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, said the current administration has “failed America's veterans and taxpayers” with these actions.
“Those who have been fired for mistreating American veterans should not even be allowed to be near the VA, much less reinstated,” said Wilkie, who is currently a research fellow at AFPI's Center for American Security. spoke.
“Instead of litigating these baseless complaints or working with Congress to strengthen accountability laws, the Biden-Harris administration has capitulated to public employee unions. The veterans who receive it will pay the price.”
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U.S. Army and Vietnam War veterans attend Memorial Day event at Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
In 2017, under the previous administration, VA failed to negotiate with AFGE to enforce the law, which was legally required in the contract. As a result, the agency received repeated court orders to reinstate fired employees, officials said.
However, current VA leadership is adamant that no employees previously fired for serious crimes such as patient abuse have been reinstated.
“The Veterans Administration saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by preventing bad actors from returning to work,” a department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
” [Trump] The administration's implementation of the 2017 law has been repeatedly struck down by courts, putting the Veterans Administration at risk of having to rehire individuals who have abused, harassed, and committed criminal acts against patients, and taxpayers. He is held responsible for more than $1 billion. ”
A spokesperson said the Veterans Administration will continue to hold employees accountable who mistreat patients or commit other violations, and those reinstated will be held to its high standards or be fired.
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“Veterans trust the Veterans Administration at the highest rate in history, and we are providing more care and benefits to more veterans than ever before,” they said.
The law signed by President Trump is The author is Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, was intended to do exactly what its title suggests.
The move gives the agency new powers to fire employees more quickly for poor performance or misconduct, leading to multiple complaints by the public employee union AFGE.
Some of the returning employees were initially fired for falling asleep on the job, unauthorized access to employees' medical records and failing to follow procedures, according to FOIA documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
