VA Employees with criminal history related to drugs

| February 26, 2023

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states that hundreds of employees, with drug related criminal histories, are still working at the VA. These histories relate to felony controlled-substance possession. These employees potentially increase the chances of drug theft being committed. In some cases, VA employees were allowed to continue with their employment after their drug related conviction was discovered.

From Fox News:

“VHA received information about this conviction via a criminal history record in August 2018 and hired the employee as a nursing assistant in September 2018,” GAO said. “As of September 2022, the employee continues to work at VHA as a nursing assistant.”

In another case, the VHA was aware that a job candidate had been convicted four times of felony possession of cocaine between 1996 and 2001. The VHA received that information in May 2010 and hired that person in June 2010 as a student trainee. That staffer is still onboard as a health technician.

And in a third case, GAO found that an individual employed as of last fall as a pharmacy technician despite a conviction for felony possession and sale of hydrocodone, an opioid used to treat pain. VHA learned of this conviction in 2006 and hired this staffer in 2007.

GAO concluded that VHA has no control processes in place to take information about past drug convictions of prospective employees and use that information to assess whether those convictions make them ineligible to work closely with veterans. It also found that “some VHA employees did not have completed background investigations as required.”

“VHA lacks assurance that employees with undisclosed criminal history or other adverse information are properly vetted and risks hiring unsuitable individuals who may pose a risk to veterans,” GAO said.

VHA is also failing to comply with federal law that requires it to get a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) before hiring staff members with drug-related criminal convictions.

“VHA doesn’t have a waiver policy and didn’t consistently request them, so VHA’s screening process may overlook individuals who may pose risks to veterans,” GAO said. “We recommended VHA implement a policy regarding these employment waivers to protect veterans.”

Fox News has the rest of the story.

Category: Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department

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AW1 Rod

More great news about our stellar VA.

RGR 4-78

NOT CHIP

Anonymous

Ah, just-follow-instructions ‘tards who skip over anything that’s too hard for ’em… lovely.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Uh-oh. Chip’s been spammed.

NHSparky

Anyone who wants socialized medicine has to go through the VA.

Anonymous

Government-run healthcare…

Old tanker

So exactly wtf is the function of the VA’s HR section?? Having done background checks for my employer, it just isn’t that hard to do.

Anonymous

Chasing their paycheck and not working more than 40 hours/week are job responsibilities there, you know.

Anonymous

Cashing, i meant… you know what I mean. Doing their job doesn’t seem to be a responsibility there.

Hack Stone

Hack Stone’s sister worked as a HR manager for a federal agency. They had to go up against the unions to terminate employees with convictions for theft, embezzlement, possession of child porn, etc. Sometimes the Union rep would agree that the Shitbird needs to be canned, and would put up a half assed defense, but they still defended them.

Fyrfighter

Diversity >competence

USMCMSgt(Ret)

A GAO study was conducted which exposed negative findings, yet squat will be done about it.

Move along.

5JC

This actually explains a lot. I am guessing the number of people actively on drugs at the VA is well above the general population.

A Proud Infidel®™

No surprise to me.

Steve1371

Has there been any connection to stolen mail delivery drugs? I know at least one VA patient who has had his meds never arrive before.

Green Thumb

Or lost in the system.

KoB

So now we know why many Vets can’t get the meds they need. The employees are keeping the good stuff for themselves. Got it. The artist formerly known as hunter approves this policy.

Graybeard

Whip.
Post.
HR employee and druggie.

Tar.
Feathers.
Rail.
HR employee and druggie again.

Rope.
Tree.
HR employee and druggie yet again.

Repeat until problem solved.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

I wasn’t eligible to be a va patient when I retired back in 2006 and have had my own coverage until I hit 65 and went to Medicare and am happy with it so I’ll just keep my mouth shut on what I think of the va. 10-4, Roger and out…..

Green Thumb

Bunch of junkies looking for easy access to pills.