The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to shed nearly 30,000 positions through attrition by the end of the fiscal year, meaning it will no longer seek a “large-scale reduction in force.”
But in this push to shrink the workforce, some VA employees say the department has gone back and forth on approving them for incentives to leave the agency.
VA officials, for example, briefly approved Veterans Crisis Line employees for deferred resignation, even though their positions were largely exempt from the offer. But soon after receiving those approvals, VCL employees said department officials reversed those decisions.
The VA, in a press release on Monday, said it “has multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact veteran care or benefits.”
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According to an internal VA dashboard, more than 14,000 Veterans Health Administration employees applied for the second round of the deferred resignation program.
The internal dashboard shows that 41 employees at the Veterans Crisis Line expressed interest in leaving the VA. Of those, 27 applied for deferred resignation, and 15 retired or applied for voluntary early retirement authority.
Of those 41 Veterans Crisis Line employees, 25 were crisis responders, two were crisis responder supervisors, four were social service assistants, two were peer specialists and one was a social worker. The rest held non-frontline administrative positions.
VA officials allowed VCL employees to take the voluntary early retirement offer, and at least in some cases, approved VCL employees for deferred resignation — even though crisis line employees are broadly exempt from these separation incentives.
Federal News Network spoke to two Veterans Crisis Line employees who said they were initially approved for the deferred resignation program, but had their approvals rescinded after further review. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.
VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz told Federal News Network that “only VA employees whose departure will not negatively impact VA health care or benefits will be approved for the DRP.”
“DRP approval decisions go through multiple reviews, and, for direct care positions, the final approval authority is at VA Central Office, so there may be instances when lower-level approvals are overruled,” Kasperowicz said.
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One VCL employee told Federal News Network that hotline staff were initially told in April told they were exempt from the deferred resignation program, and could not apply. Weeks later, they were told that they could apply and that applications “would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”
“It was even encouraged by executive leaders who said that we must do what is best for us and our families, and that there was no certainty with RIFs coming,” the employee said.
The VCL employee said they applied for deferred resignation, and that their application and paperwork finalizing the decision was approved by Thomas O’Toole, VHA’s deputy assistant undersecretary for health for clinical services.
But on May 23, VCL leaders sent an email rescinding all deferred resignation approvals for crisis line employees. The email, according to one VCL employee, said their applications were “mistakenly routed,” and that they would need to go to VA Central Office for review.
“This entire process has shown a complete disregard for and disrespect for employees. DRP should never have been offered if there was no intent to honor it in the first place,” the VCL employee said. “All of this has created more tension and continues to erode morale, as I know of many here who have voiced a plan to leave the agency with all that continues to happen.”
A second Veterans Crisis Line employee said they were initially approved for the deferred resignation program, but the approval was later rescinded.
“A couple of days before I was to go on administrative leave, I was told that it was cancelled because it had not gone up the proper chain of command, despite it being approved by a senior executive,” the VCL employee told Federal News Network.
The VCL employee said days later, they were told that their DRP approval was rescinded “due to staffing levels.” The employee said they will still leave the VA this month without receiving any incentives.
The Veterans Crisis Line has generally been exempt from a governmentwide hiring freeze. But former VCL employees told the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs last week that they struggled to keep up with a growing volume of calls, texts and web chats. In some cases, VCL employees had to juggle multiple incoming texts or web chats.
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O’Toole told lawmakers at the hearing that he was “deeply disturbed” by the accounts from former VCL employees.
“It’s not acceptable that these behaviors and these actions were taking place, so I have no reason to dispute it, definitely no interest in disregarding it,” O’Toole said.
A spokesperson for Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said VA employees in positions exempt from the hiring freeze were allowed to apply for the second-round DRP, but would not be accepted into the program before undergoing a review by both local VA leadership and VA Central Office, “to assure direct services to veterans and VA beneficiaries would not be negatively impacted by the employee’s departure.”
“The committee is waiting for the results of that review process, which VA has advised is expected by the end of July,” the spokesperson said.
In a town hall meeting last month, VA Secretary Doug Collins encouraged employees to leave the department if they no longer feel motivated to serve veterans.
“If you’re out there and working in our workforce and you don’t want to be there, please find another job. And I mean it with love, because if you don’t want to work on our veterans, who are the best in the world, then it’s not good for you, and it’s not good for my veterans. If you’re out there doing stuff to harm my veterans, you will no longer fail up in the VA,” Collins said on June 20.
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