Even though a Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens abused their positions as Senior Executive Service (SES) officials and manipulated the employment system for their own benefit, two separate judges have overturned each woman’s demotion and pay cut.
I’ve blogged about this before because it horrifies me – these two women, Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens, are literally being paid a combined $400,000 for deplorable actions. In both cases, according to the VA’s OIG, Ms. Graves and Ms. Rubens effectively forced out other senior officials so they could take over their jobs – with hefty relocation expenses.
The embattled VA finally seemed to be doing something to hold these officials accountable – they demoted them and effected a pay cut, citing poor judgement and creating a perception of impropriety. It would have been great if they could have been publicly fired, but hey – Government jobs are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The VA also forwarded its OIG report to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges. That office declined to prosecute and returned the report to the VA for any disciplinary action.
Now, however, both women have been vindicated (a word they do not deserve) by two separate judges at the Merit Systems Protection Board, which examines disciplinary action taken against Government employees. This means that these women felt entitled to protest their pay cut, which in and of itself is insulting to tax payers.
Both judges stated that technically, neither Ms. Graves or Ms. Rubens violated any laws. They also put a lot of stock in the fact that they acted under the blessing and consent of higher-up officials (one of whom resigned over this scandal). As written by the judge in Ms. Kimberly Graves’s proceeding, “It was not something Ms. Graves hid from them as far as her involvement with [her predecessor’s] reassignment. . . They not only endorsed the actions when they happened, but they continue to endorse the actions.”
Also, it mattered greatly that these higher-ups, including Acting VA Under Secretary for Benefits, Danny Pummill, had not been disciplined by the VA. As noted by the judge in one proceeding, “If Ms. Graves is going to be disciplined for failure to exercise sound judgement by creating the appearance of impropriety, then it would only be reasonable if any other [SES] members … involved in the same situation were disciplined as well.”
Here’s a hypothetical. Robbers are scavenging your home, and they scatter when police arrive. Two of seven are caught. The police say, “Oh, well – I guess we’ll let these two go. It’s not fair to these robbers that the others got away. And since they’re already holding your jewelry, we’ll let them keep it.”
Here, not only are Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens not being punished because higher-ups in the food chain were ignored in the disciplinary process, but they’re being allowed to keep the money. Ms. Rubens’s judge also ruled that she’ll receive interest on the back pay found “owed” to her (due to the demotion). Meanwhile, veterans wait years for a decision on their entitlement to service-connected disability compensation, and they don’t get interest or penalties.
Another horrifying twist in the continuing VA saga.
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