The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has rescinded the demotions of two senior executives who allegedly exploited a relocation program to obtain more than $400,000 in salary hikes and other perks.
The Associated Press reported that VA oversight director Ryan Hedgepeth made the announcement Thursday. He said that the agency plans to reissue the demotions after dealing with a paperwork issue that was recently discovered.
The two Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) senior executives, Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, were demoted from their positions at the Philadelphia regional office and the St. Paul, Minnesota, regional office, respectively, in November. The demotions came in response to a September inspector general report that found that the VBA used $1.8 million in taxpayer dollars to relocate 23 top executives between the 2013 and 2015 fiscal years.
The acting inspector general found that Rubens and Graves, who earn salaries of $181,497 and $173,949, respectively, compelled lower-ranking managers to take job transfers against their will so they could assume the lower positions with less responsibility and maintain their high pay. The executives also allegedly exploited the relocation program to obtain $400,000 in questionable moving expenses.
Both Rubens and Graves, who face possible criminal prosecution, appealed their demotions, Hedgepeth said Thursday. Pending the appeals process, the agency will not reassign them to lower-paying positions. Hedgepeth further stated that one of the five evidence binders backing up the demotions had not been given to the executives.
"To rectify this omission, the department must rescind and reissue the proposed demotions and afford the employees the opportunity to respond to the additional supporting evidence. The process is now under way," Hedgepeth said.
Dan Caldwell, the legislative and political director for Concerned Veterans for America, blamed VA Secretary Robert McDonald Thursday for not firing the executives for "clearly defraud[ing] the government" in the first place.
"Make no mistake: the VA was forced to rescind the demotions of Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens--two employees who clearly defrauded the government--due to the VA’s own incompetence and lack of seriousness when it comes to introducing accountability to the troubled department," Caldwell said in a statement.
After the relocation scandal, former undersecretary for benefits Allison Hickey resigned from her position at the VBA. Danny Pummill, now acting undersecretary for benefits, told lawmakers on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs last month that the agency has suspended the relocation program.
"We weren’t paying attention to everything we should have been paying attention to," Pummel said at the November hearing. "We need to do a better job of that."
Lawmakers called both Rubens and Graves to testify at the hearing but they refused to do so, pleading the Fifth Amendment.