Title: VA Personnel Equity Act of 2018
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
VA Personnel Equity Act of 2018
This bill repeals certain provisions with respect to procedures for the removal, demotion, or suspension of employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) based on performance or misconduct. The Government Accountability Office shall report on the proposed and final disciplines and removals of certain VA employees.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6101 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6101

 To amend titles 5 and 38, United States Code, to ensure that certain 
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same 
 removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the 
              Federal Government, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 14, 2018

Mr. Fitzpatrick (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, and Mr. Brown of 
  Maryland) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
   Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend titles 5 and 38, United States Code, to ensure that certain 
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same 
 removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the 
              Federal Government, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``VA Personnel Equity Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SEPARATE REMOVAL, DEMOTION, AND SUSPENSION PROCESSES 
              FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Repeal.--
            (1) Title 38.--Section 714 of title 38, United States Code, 
        is amended--
                    (A) by striking subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and 
                (g);
                    (B) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (h) 
                as subsections (a), (b), and (c), respectively;
                    (C) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by 
                striking ``under subsection (a)'' each place it 
                appears; and
                    (D) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
                            (i) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4); and
                            (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 
                        (6) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively.
            (2) Title 5.--Section 4303(f) of title 5, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking the comma at the 
                end and inserting ``, or'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``, or'' and 
                inserting a period; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (4).
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 719, by striking ``under section 713, 714, 
        or 7461 of this title'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``under section 713 or 7461 of this title'';
            (2) in section 714, as amended by subsection (a), by 
        striking the heading and inserting ``Protections for 
        whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and suspension'';
            (3) by redesignating section 714 as section 734;
            (4) by transferring section 734, as so redesignated, so as 
        to appear after section 733; and
            (5) in the table of sections--
                    (A) by striking the item relating to section 714; 
                and
                    (B) by inserting after the item relating to section 
                733 the following new item:

``734. Protections for whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and 
                            suspension.''.

SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF CERTAIN DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES 
              FOR PERSONNEL OF THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

    The following provisions of title 38, United States Code, are each 
amended to read as such provisions read on the day before the date of 
the enactment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and 
Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-41):
            (1) Section 7461(b).
            (2) Section 7462(b).
            (3) Section 7463(c).

SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES REPORT ON DISCIPLINE 
              AND REMOVALS AT DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to Congress a report that evaluates proposed and final 
disciplines and removals of employees of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs that occurred during each of the following periods:
            (1) Calendar years 2014, 2015, and 2016.
            (2) Beginning on the date of the enactment of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower 
        Protection Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-41) and ending on the 
        date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Matters Included.--The report under subsection (a) shall 
include, at a minimum, the following with respect to each period 
covered by the report:
            (1) The number of employees of the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs proposed for discipline or removal.
            (2) The number of such employees formally disciplined or 
        removed.
            (3) The organization, position titles, type of action, 
        effective date of the action, and grades of such employees.
            (4) The duty locations of such employees.
            (5) The gender, age, race, veteran status, tenure, and 
        length of service of such employees.
            (6) With respect to each such employee, the nature of the 
        disciplinary charge (including whether the charge was a first 
        offense), or if related to a performance issue, a summary of 
        the less-than-satisfactory performance leading to the removal 
        or reduction in pay or grade.
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