White VA employees twice as likely as Black workers to be promoted, union says

The data was obtained from the agency under a Freedom of Information Act request by an arm of the American Federation of Government Employees.

White workers were almost twice as likely as Black employees to be chosen for management positions at the Department of Veterans Affairs over the past three years, according to data released by an employee union.

The data, obtained from the agency under a Freedom of Information Act request by an arm of the American Federation of Government Employees, show that the selection rate for Black VA employees seeking to enter management was between 1.8 percent and 2.5 percent from fiscal 2017 through July of this year.

During the same period, the selection rate for white employees was between 2.8 percent and 4.7 percent, similar to rates for other demographics. However, white applicants made up between 38 and 48 percent of all selected applicants in these years, while Black applicants made up between 15 and 18 percent.

The department, which is responsible for administering health care to over 9 million military veterans, is being audited by the Government Accountability Office — a probe sought by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — over allegations by employees of systemic racism within the agency.

Christina Noel, press secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said in a statement that the “VA does not tolerate harassment or discrimination in any form.” The Department said the data was "incomplete and not definitive," because it allowed applicants to omit their race. "The percentage of applicants that chose not to submit demographic information grew over time, from 19 percent in FY2017 to 29 percent in FY2020," the agency said in a statement.

Noel added: “As a result of VA’s commitment to fair and equal treatment of all employees, the department has boosted its rating from 17th to 6th among large federal agencies in the Partnership for Public Service’s annual ‘best places to work’ survey of federal employees."

Yet more than 78 percent of unionized VA workers said racism is a problem at the agency, according to a recent survey released by the AFGE.

In interviews with POLITICO, four current and former Black VA employees in Missouri, Delaware, Wisconsin and New York, who are all involved with the union, described a hostile environment toward minorities and union members at VA facilities in those states.

All said they witnessed minorities being passed over for promotions or were denied opportunities themselves.

People of color “can be more qualified, [have] more schooling, [be] more experienced, [have] more years at the VA, and still are passed over for positions,” said Marcellus Shields, president of AFGE Local 342, which represents VA employees at Wilmington VA Medical Center in Delaware. “The diversity as far as leadership is minimal.”

Kevin Ellis, who works at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo., where he is president of the union local, said he has worked at the VA for 17 and a half years and has been passed over for promotions twice within the same depa

Gayle Griffin, who worked as a nursing assistant at a VA facility before becoming president of the AFGE Local 3 in Milwaukee, said she also experienced racism personally and in her work as a union representative.

“The racism there at the Milwaukee VA is off the chain,” she said of the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Griffin described one case where a Black nurse was passed over for positions in favor of white nursing students, who needed supervision because they weren’t registered.

She said after she hired more Black union representatives, VA human resources staff referred to the hiring during a meeting as her “going to the kitchen and gathering up the help.”

In response to a request for comment, the Zablocki VA Medical Center said, "This two-year-old allegation was dismissed by the Federal Labor Relations Authority because it was an old complaint with no evidence."

But the VA told POLITICO that all of these allegations were "serious" and requested written consent waivers from each of the employees so it could comment further on the specific events. The employees declined.

Griffin said workers fear coming to the union because they’ll face retaliation by staff. She said the agency has increased its use of disciplinary action and has been firing more employees following President Donald Trump’s executive orders that weaken the influence of federal unions and make it easier to dismiss civil servants. Those policies went into full effect last year after being delayed in a court battle.

Justyn Brown, an Army veteran who has worked at the agency for 12 years and represents workers at the VA medical center in New York, said people of color have “been targeted at a high clip” for discipline by VA management.

He said from his work as a representative for the AFGE in New York that “members who are non-Black for the same infractions are either given a written counseling or an opportunity to correct their behavior,” Black and other people of color “are immediately brought up on disciplinary action,” he said.

VA New York Harbor Healthcare System denied Brown's allegations. In a statement, the VA said the facility "does not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind" and said more than 67 percent of its positions are held by minorities.

VA workers’ experience with racism is not exclusive to those locations, according to the AFGE’s National VA Council, which represents more than 270,000 of the agency’s 400,000 workers.

The allegations have caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, who want more details about claims of retaliation and racial discrimination within the federal government’s third-largest agency, which employs many veterans.

Citing the union data, Warren and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) requested that a nonpartisan government watchdog conduct a review of the VA’s “culture, policies, and practices” to determine how systemic racism was affecting the agency.

Late last month, the GAO agreed to investigate the VA, and said it would announce its findings in six months.