Employees of the Virginia administration, previously mandated to repay earned bonuses due to misconduct, now have the option for an appeal process.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has published an interim final rule on Wednesday, establishing procedures for individuals to appeal recoupment orders issued by the Veterans Affairs Department (VA). This rule comes as a response to the finalization of the VA's policies for recouping awards, bonuses, and relocation expenses under the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which was finalized in January 2024.
Individuals now have seven business days after receiving a recoupment order to submit an appeal to OPM. The VA secretary can require an employee to repay, in whole or in part, any award or bonus they've received if it's determined they had previously engaged in misconduct or poor performance. This includes the repayment of relocation expenses if their authorization was influenced by fraud or malfeasance.
The appeal process takes effect on Wednesday, and OPM is requesting comments on it through March 17. Specifically, it is seeking opinions on whether VA bargaining unit employees can use grievance procedures to challenge a recoupment order instead of filing an appeal, and if OPM should publish appeal decisions.
OPM's new guidance specifies what information must be included in the appeal, including an explanation regarding why the employee believes the order was issued incorrectly. OPM's authority is limited to reviewing whether VA appropriately followed recoupment policies.
It's important to note that President-elect Donald Trump's pick for VA secretary, former Rep. Doug Collins, has discussed making it easier to remove VA employees. However, no publicly available information in the provided search results up to January 2024 reveals which Veterans Affairs Department officials underwent recoupments of rewards, bonuses, and relocation expenses under the 2017 law, nor who made the decisions regarding these recoupments.
The timeline for the development of the interim final rule has been updated in this story. The rule sets procedures for current and former Veterans Affairs Department employees to appeal recoupments of awards, bonuses, and relocation expenses under the 2017 law. OPM had to wait to develop their policies until they had a better understanding of the VA's process and what records the department would provide.
The top Republicans on the congressional Veterans' Affairs committees in the 118th Congress have sponsored legislation to reinstate and strengthen many provisions in the 2017 law. No new guidelines for appealing retirement benefit reductions have been addressed in the current interim final rule.
The VA Secretary Denis McDonough ceased enforcement of the accountability law in 2023, but the interim final rule, published by OPM, is ready to handle appeals if VA issues an order to recoup. The rule is a significant step towards ensuring fairness and transparency in the recoupment process for VA employees.
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