More than three years after an investigation into Phoenix’s VA Medical Center, the U.S. Senate has approved and sent to the House broad legislation that will make it easier to fire employees.
If the measure is signed into law, it would lower the burden of proof against an employee from a “preponderance” of a doubt to “substantial evidence,” even if most of the evidence favors the worker.
In 2014, a law giving the VA greater power to discipline executives was found likely unconstitutional.
That allowed a federal appeals court last month to overturn the firing of Phoenix VA hospital director Sharon Helman.
She was removed after an investigation found hundreds of veterans had died while on long wait lists for medical care.
