On Tuesday, the Veterans Affairs suspended the head of the Veterans Benefits Administration and reprimanded three others for allowing lower-ranking officials to take control of the agency's hiring system for their own interests.
Fox News reported that VA Secretary Sloan Gibson says acting chief Danny Pummill will be suspended for 15 days without pay for his role in an ongoing promotional scandal that has roiled the agency and enraged lawmakers for months. Pummill was not able to exercise appropriate oversight as Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves forced the low-ranking management to accept job transfers and stepped into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their senior-level pay while reducing their responsibilities in the department.
A late September report made by an inspector general said Graves and Rubens abused their authority by reassigning other directors to jobs elsewhere within the VA department. Investigators added that the moves demonstrated carried with the relocation payouts which total to more than $400,000 combined, says Military Times.
Meanwhile, VA officials defended the actions as legitimate, but criticized both women for not taking proper care to make sure their moves were beyond public scrutiny. Merit Systems Protection Board judges called the moves "too extreme."
According to The Washington Post, Graves earns $173,949 as the head of the St. Paul, Minnesota while Rubens receives $181,497 as director of the VBA Philadelphia regional office.
Pummill can appeal his suspension to an independent arbiter, according to VA rules. He replaced ex-VBA chief Allison Hickey, who retired as accusations against Graves and Rubens were made public. Pummill was the deputy chief of VBA when both women implemented the job relocations. Both officials were reprimanded and had their pay cut by 10 percent. Last month, administrative judges reinstated the women's ranks after overturning their demotions.
Representative Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, called the actions "a weak slap on the wrist.
