WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs is suspending the head of the Veterans Benefits Administration for allowing two lower-ranking officials to manipulate the agency's hiring system for their own gain.
Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson says acting VBA chief Danny Pummill will be suspended without pay for 15 days for his role in a relocation scam that has roiled the agency for months.
Gibson said Tuesday that Pummill failed to exercise proper oversight as Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens forced lower-ranking managers to accept job transfers and then stepped into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their senior-level pay while reducing their responsibilities.
Gibson and Rubens were reprimanded Tuesday and had their pay cut by 10 percent. They were reinstated to their positions last month after administrative judges overturned their firings.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
