The former director of a VA hospital in Puerto Rico is back on the job after being fired earlier this year. DeWayne Hamlin first got into trouble when it was reported that he was arrested for drunk driving and for possession of opiate painkillers without a prescription. When a VA employee blew the whistle about the arrest, Hamlin apparently tried to fire the whistleblower. Despite that the law considers such whistleblower retaliation to be an abuse of power, and even after these two incidents, former VA Secretary Bob McDonald “flew Hamlin to Washington to shape other managers in his image at a ‘Leaders Developing Leaders’ seminar.”
Fast-forward to January 2017 and Hamlin was finally terminated from the VA. But because of outmoded civil services rules in effect that protect even poorly performing bureaucrats, Hamlin is now back on the job at his former VA hospital (albeit not in his former role as director).
With stories like this, it is hard to take seriously the claims of VA leadership that things are in fact changing for the better.
You can read more about his story by clicking here.
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