Senate bill would fast-track rules for firing bad VA employees

Healthcare IT News: A bipartisan group of Senators rolled out legislation on Thursday that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to swiftly handle poor-performing employees.

The bill, the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, overhauls long-standing civil service protections that the President said he would enact to hold the VA accountable.

The draft legislation would allow the VA secretary to remove, suspend or reprimand a senior executive within a 21-day internal grievance process. Further, the secretary could discipline non-senior executives within a 180-day window to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

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