Lawmakers, unions decry ‘incompetent’ firings at Minneapolis VA

John Helcl was hired at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center earlier this year to put his investigative and law enforcement experience to work identifying inefficiency and poor employee performance.

So the Army veteran was surprised when he learned by text Feb. 14 that he was being fired from his workplace efficiency role as part of a sweeping effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to reduce federal waste and inefficiency.

He wasn’t the only one taken aback. Helcl said his supervisors and human resources officials at the Minneapolis VA hadn’t been notified in advance that about a dozen new workers like him, still on probationary status, were let go.

“I understand the need for fiscal responsibility. This is not responsible governance,” he said. “A government that claims efficiency by discarding its most capable and dedicated workers is like a doctor who claims to have cured a disease by euthanizing the patients.”

An upset Helcl joined U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith on Tuesday in publicly denouncing the cuts.

Klobuchar said more than 2,000 VA workers were let go nationwide in February, although some are supposed to be rehired following a court order that temporarily blocked the move. The senator wanted to raise concerns before the Trump administration followed through on plans to cut 80,000 VA workers in all — potentially making it harder for veterans to access medical and other benefits.

“We are witnessing an attack on the care and benefits that these veterans deserve,” she said.

The VA in a written statement told the Minnesota Star Tribune that a “limited number of probationary staff” lost their jobs last month but that “this decision will have no negative effect on Veteran health care, benefits or other services.” However, the federal agency for weeks has declined to make public the exact number of cuts at the Minneapolis VA.

Craig, Klobuchar and Smith said their requests for this specific information have so far been denied as well. The Star Tribune has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to gain the information.

The VA has increased staffing over the last three years after granting presumptive benefits eligibility to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Klobuchar said Minnesota veterans and researchers led the fight for those expanded benefits, and she said she worries that access will now become more difficult.

The VA stated last month that the cuts nationwide would save $83 million per year that could be redirected to other services and benefits for veterans.

Union officials said the mood among workers at the Minneapolis VA has soured. Many nurses were already being required amid a nursing shortage to fill 16-hour shifts to maintain patient care, said Jacob Romans, a float nurse at the Minneapolis VA and president of the Local 3669 chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees. Now, he said, those workers also worry that their jobs are at risk.

About 200 Minneapolis VA workers have sought union memberships because they want to fight further cuts, he added.

Cuts included a disabled veteran who had provided art and other forms of recreational therapy to veterans, and a grant writer who acquired funding to study treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions.

Romans said some of the workers had received outstanding performance evaluations, and yet their termination letters made erroneous claims that they were substandard or presented conduct problems. He said those official claims could make it harder for those workers to find new jobs elsewhere.

The workforce at the Minneapolis VA has shrunk beyond the 12 dismissals, Romans added, because the agency eliminated some contract workers and compelled some longtime staff to retire early.

Helcl said he took a pay cut to join the Minneapolis VA because he wanted to improve care for veterans. His department is entirely funded by the savings and efficiencies it achieves, he added, making it an illogical choice to cut.

After Helcl received a text that he lost his job, he said he couldn’t even log in to his email to confirm if the information was legitimate. Many workers like him remain confused about whether court action has restored their jobs. If he learns that he is getting his old job back, he said, it won’t be an easy decision to return given how he has been treated.

“That would require a bit of a conversation,” he said.