Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025
Key claim: The Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025 would require the VA to meet a ‘substantial evidence’ standard before removing, demoting, or suspending supervisory or managerial employees, while adding whistleblower protections and applying the rules retroactively to June 2017.
Abstract
(S124 · 119th Congress) Restore Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability Act of 2025 or the Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025 This bill modifies personnel action procedures regarding certain employees and executives of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The bill authorizes the VA to remove from civil service, demote, or suspend VA employees that are supervisors or managers if the VA determines by substantial evidence that the performance or misconduct of such individual warrants such action. This authority does not apply to certain appointees or individuals in their probationary or trial period. Supervisors or managers who are subject to a removal, demotion, or suspension under this bill are entitled to (1) advance notice of the action and supporting evidence, (2) representation by an attorney or representative, and (3) grieve the action in accordance with an internal grievance process. The bill also provides protections from removal, demotion, or suspension for supervisor or managers who are whistleblowers or are seeking corrective action for an alleged prohibited personnel practice such as discrimination. The bill also modifies the procedures to remove, demote, or suspend VA employees or senior executives based on performance or misconduct, specifically by requiring the VA to determine by substantial evidence that the performance or misconduct of the individual warrants such removal, demotion, or suspension. Such procedures must apply retroactively, beginning on the date of enactment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 (June 23, 2017). Latest action (2025-03-11): Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-35.
Why this matters
The bill would partially unwind the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act’s lowered evidentiary threshold for firing VA supervisors and managers, restoring the higher ‘substantial evidence’ standard and applying it retroactively — potentially reopening prior removals. It runs counter to concurrent OPM/MSPB efforts to streamline federal adverse actions, illustrating a divergent policy track for the VA workforce specifically. Whistleblower protections in the bill also intersect with broader federal whistleblower reform proposals moving through Congress.