V.A. LAW AND ETHICS OF HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
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THE V.A. LAW AND ETHICS OF HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
Week 7 Assignment #3
Joseph Brown
Dr. Udoh E. Udom
PAD-530
February 20, 2013
V.A. LAW AND ETHICS OF HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
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Laws Affecting the Department of Veterans Affairs
Analyze at least three (3) laws and court decisions that have implications to the agency’s
personnel management.
In order for the Department of Veterans Affairs to be effective, constructive and cooperative, and
to have a good working relationship between subordinates and mangers, laws of equal protection
must exist; which in terms is essential to achieving the agency’s mission and to ensuring a
productive work environment for all employees.
For the purpose of this assignment, the
following three Personnel management laws will be discuss:
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964, and the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973:
According to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission “This
law makes it illegal to discriminate against a qualified person with disability in the federal
government, and also requires that employers reasonably accommodate the known physical or
mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an employee”.
An example of this is the court decision on Petted v. Department of Veterans Affairs on
December 14, 2011.
According to the Office of Federal Operation, summer 2012, “The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) overturned an administrative judge’s findings of
‘the VA had taken sufficient steps to reasonably accommodated Petted, and offered GS-6 clerical
position to be accepted”.
The EECO held that the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to make
a good faith effort to accommodate Raymond Petted after gaining disability on-the-job when it
failed to reassigned him to an available vehicle operator.
Petted as an air conditioning equipment
mechanic, the GS-6 clerical position was inappropriate, as it was not equivalent in terms of pay,
status, and other related factors, as required by the Rehabilitation Act.
The Rehabilitation Act
emphasizes the participation that reassignment plays in the reasonable accommodation process.
V.A. LAW AND ETHICS OF HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE
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To avoid court law suites, federal employers should exercise due diligence in exploring
reassignment of last resort.
The Civil Rights Acts of 1964:
According to the Department of
Veterans Affairs “VA will not
tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis or race, color, religion, national origin, sex,
pregnancy, gender identity, parental status, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability,
genetic information, political affiliation, or retaliation for opposing discriminatory practices or
participating in the discrimination complaint process”.
