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Addressing Continued Whistleblower Retaliation Within Va

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ADDRESSING CONTINUED WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION WITHIN VA HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015 Serial No. 114–13 Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 98–630 WASHINGTON : 2016 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 16:10 May 25, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 Y:\98-630.TXT PAT VACREP0180 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado CORRINE BROWN, Florida, Ranking GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida, Vice-Chairman Minority Member DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee MARK TAKANO, California DAN BENISHEK, Michigan JULIA BROWNLEY, California TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas DINA TITUS, Nevada MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado RAUL RUIZ, California BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana BETO O’ROURKE, Texas RALPH ABRAHAM, Louisiana KATHLEEN RICE, New York LEE ZELDIN, New York TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota RYAN COSTELLO, Pennsylvania JERRY MCNERNEY, California AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Samoa MIKE BOST, Illinois JON TOWERS, Staff Director DON PHILLIPS, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado, Chairman DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire, Ranking DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee Member DAN BENISHEK, Michigan BETO O’ROURKE, Texas TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas KATHLEEN RICE, New York JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occur- rences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 16:10 May 25, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 Y:\98-630.TXT PAT VACREP0180 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Monday, April 13, 2015 Page Addressing Continued Whistleblower Retaliation Within VA ............................. 1 OPENING STATEMENTS Mike Coffman, Chairman ........................................................................................ 1 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 38 Ann Kuster, Ranking Member ................................................................................ 2 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 39 WITNESSES Ms. Meghan Flanz, Director, Office of Accountability Review, Department of Veterans Affairs ............................................................................................... 4 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 40 Hon. Carolyn Lerner, Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel ....................... 6 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 42 Dr. Christian Head, Associate Director-Chief of Staff—Legal and Quality Assurance, Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System .................................. 7 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 46 Dr. Maryann Hooker, Neurologist, Wilmington VA Medical Center, President, Local 342, American Federation of Government Employees ............................ 9 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 51 Mr. Richard Tremaine, MBA, Associate Director, VA Central Alabama Healthcare System ............................................................................................... 10 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 53 FOR THE RECORD Project on Government Oversight .......................................................................... 54 Kimberly Hughes Statement .................................................................................. 57 QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD Questions, From: Chairman Mike Coffman ........................................................... 60 Questions, From: Chairman Mike Coffman and Responses: From: VA .............. 61 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 16:10 May 25, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 Y:\98-630.TXT PAT VACREP0180 with DISTILLER VerDate Aug 31 2005 16:10 May 25, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 Y:\98-630.TXT PAT VACREP0180 with DISTILLER ADDRESSING CONTINUED WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION WITHIN VA Monday, April 13, 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 4:00 p.m., in Room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Mike Coffman [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Coffman, Roe, Benishek, Huelskamp, Walorski, Kuster, Rice, and Walz. Also Present: Representative Roby. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MIKE COFFMAN Mr. COFFMAN. Good afternoon. This hearing will come to order. I want to welcome everyone to today’s hearing, titled Addressing Continued Whistleblower Retaliation Within VA. I would like to ask unanimous consent that Hon. Martha Roby from the State of Alabama be allowed to join us at the dais as she has been very active in this case—in the case of one of our wit- nesses here today. Seeing no objection. Additionally, I would like to ask unanimous consent that three statements be entered into the hearing record, two from whistle- blowers and one from the Project on Government Oversight. Hear- ing no objection, so ordered. Mr. COFFMAN. The hearing will focus on the treatment of whis- tleblowers within the Department of Defense—I’m sorry—within the Department of Veterans Affairs, particularly the types and lev- els of retaliation they experience when reporting problems. This will serve as a follow-up to the hearing conducted by the committee on July—in July 2014, where we will address what progress the Department has made since then to correct its retaliatory culture and where VA has failed to protect conscientious employees who seek to improve services for our Nation’s veterans. The three whistleblowers we will hear from today come from VA facilities across the country. The hostility they received for their conscientious behavior shows that the retaliatory culture, where whistleblowers are castigated for bringing problems to light, is still very alive and well in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The truth of the matter is that Congress needs whistleblowers within Federal agencies to help identify problems on the ground in order to remain properly informed for the development of effective legislation. For example, the national wait time scandal that this (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 16:10 May 25, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 Y:\98-630.TXT PAT VACREP0180 with DISTILLER 2 committee revealed at a hearing just over a year ago, which re- sulted in the Secretary of the Department resigning, simply would not have occurred without responsible VA employees stepping for- ward to fix problems. In the years since that scandal originally came to light, a new Secretary has come to the Department and he has stated that one of his primary missions is to end whistleblower retaliation within VA. The Congress also passed legislation that makes it easier for the Secretary to fire poor performing and bad acting senior executive service employees. And who, in some cases, perpetuate and encour- age retaliatory behavior. Despite these efforts, retaliation is still a popular means used by certain unethical VA employees to prevent positive change and maintain the status quo within the Department. In January, full committee Chairman Jeff Miller introduced legislation, which I co- sponsored, that would improve protections provided to whistle- blowers within VA. It will also discourage supervisors and other managerial employees from attempting to retaliate against whistle- blowers by imposing more strenuous penalties for engaging in re- taliation, including suspension, termination, and loss of bonuses. It is very simple. If you retaliate against or stifle employees who are trying to improve VA, for our Nation’s veterans, you should not be working for VA and you certainly should not receive a bonus for your despicable actions. To that end, I encourage Members to join with numerous VSOs and whistleblower protection groups in sup- port of H.R. 571, the Veterans Affairs Retaliation Prevention Act. Along with the whistleblowers here today, we will hear from the Office of Special Counsel regarding the efforts VA has made since our last hearing to improve its treatment of whistleblowers and where improvements remain absent and needed. I was very pleased to learn that the Office of Special Counsel
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