Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Tuesday defended his agency’s decision to hand out $142 million in employee bonuses last year as a way to retain “top talent.”
“We need every tool to compete and attract exceptional people to serve veterans as well as they served our nation,” McDonald wrote in a USA Today op-ed Tuesday. “[S]everely curtailing or ending awards, only in VA, would be a mistake, negatively impacting veterans and our ability to attract top talent.”
The VA came under intense scrutiny last year after whistleblowers exposed the existence of secret waiting lists that covered up long delays veterans were facing as they tried to access healthcare.
While the agency suspended bonuses for employees in the Veterans Health Administration, where the patient waiting list scandal occurred, 156,000 officials in other parts of the agency still earned rewards for their performance last year.
Critics blasted the VA for handing out bonuses while claiming many of its problems were the result of underfunding, and USA Today wrote a story outlining the millions in bonus awards handed out. McDonald’s op-ed was a reply to that article, and gave him a chance to say that many deserved those bonuses despite the larger problems at the VA.
“No system is perfect,” McDonald wrote. “The huge majority of the 156,000 workers who received awards — many veterans themselves — put veterans first. Unfortunately, these hard-working people are unfairly included in cases that deserve more scrutiny.”
The VA secretary also noted that less than half of eligible executives received performance bonuses in 2014. He argued the bonus program was necessary to attract workers from the private sector.
After the scandal broke, Congress passed legislation to reduce the total bonus awards the VA can hand out from $400 million to $360 million each year.
