⚠️ New Executive Order Restores Trump-Era Firing Powers at VA

On May 9, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to resume using controversial disciplinary statutes from the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act (Public Law 115-41).

These powers had been largely abandoned after repeated legal defeats, but under the new order, the VA must:

• Use fast-track firing procedures for misconduct under 38 U.S.C. § 713 and § 714
• Review and potentially reverse rehires and back pay awarded to employees previously terminated
• Redirect any “savings” from such actions back to veteran services

Critics warn this is an attempt to re-fire employees who won reinstatement, reopen settled cases, and sidestep due process protections.

These authorities were routinely overturned in court and at the MSPB from 2017 to 2023—and they haven’t been fixed. The same legal challenges are expected to continue, though they may be harder to win if collective bargaining rights are eliminated.

📎 Read more at Gilbert Employment Law