Ensure all VA employees maintain the disciplinary action due process rights granted to other government employees

Hundreds of thousands of VA employees work every day with standards of integrity above reproach. VA is challenged retaining and recruiting employees because of pay disparities with private sector health care organizations. The current efforts to deprive these employees of the same disciplinary action processes granted other government employees is unacceptable. Morale will decline, many great employees will retire or leave, and recruitment challenges will increase exponentially. We can accept existing pay disparities because of the nobility of our mission. We cannot accept becoming at will employees. Legislation that provides funding for additional staff while depriving those new employees the same protections other government employees are granted is simply absurd.