This month’s congressional hearing on outlandish bonuses at the Veterans Administration is the latest proof that the nation needs to overhaul how federal workers in every department are paid and promoted.
They’re on the gravy train, and taxpayers are being taken for a ride.
Back in 1883, Congress passed the Pendleton Act to replace patronage with a federal civil service in which workers would be hired and paid based on merit.
There is no MERIT anymore.
Scramble the letters.What you have now is a TIMER system.
Workers put in time and get hefty salaries and bonuses, regardless of work quality, with virtually no risk of being fired.
...The regional director overseeing the Pittsburgh VA collected a $63,000 award in 2012 shortly after six vets treated there died needlessly from legionella, an infection traced directly to poor maintenance of the facility.
The General Accountability Office investigated VAs nationwide and reported in July 2013 that doctors get bonuses regardless of work quality.
A radiologist cited for mistakes reading mammograms got a $8,216 bonus, even though a professional-standards board deemed him unqualified to continue his current duties.
A surgeon suspended for 14 days for abandoning a patient on the operating table and leaving the medical center, with only unsupervised residents to complete the procedure, still got an $11,189 annual bonus.
But it’s not just the VA.
Every federal department has this putrid culture.
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