Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 was passed on June 23, 2017 for the purpose of improving the accountability and performance of the Department of Veterans Affairs employees. This policy has three main provisions: protection of whistleblowers, removal of any senior executives or employees who are involved in misconduct or poor performance, and reduction of benefits for employees who are involved in certain crimes while on their job or duty (Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, 2017). The act is considered unique as it allows dismissal of poor performers regardless of their position. This policy also reduces the time for the firing process to only 15 business days, including 7 days for the executives to respond to this decision (Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, 2017). While this act put the concept of neutral competence a priority as it encourages all employees, regardless of their position, to be responsible and accountable, it is associated with serious unintended consequences. One of those negative consequences is the increased number of unlawful discharge, where 500 employees were fired and 180 have been placed on suspension only a month after the law was passed (Baris, 2017). The analysis of the Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act includes a discussion of how this policy has transformed the issue of improving performance in the bureaucracy to a wicked problem. It is wicked because it meets one of the ten characteristics described by Rittel and Webber (1973) that occur in social policy planning: it creates signs for another problem to occur.

Herein, the argument is based on Merton’s Manifest and Latent Functions theory. The manifest functions describe the intended consequences behind passing this law and its impact on the performance of bureaucracy that has long been recognized as lagging behind. In the manifest functions, I discuss three of the intended effects of the law. First, I discuss how this policy is unique as it is meant to improve the performance of the civil service. Second, the policy was first passed to minimize incidents of corruption which was associated in the past with poor performance of bureaucracy that led to the death of hundreds of veterans while waiting for their appointments at VA hospitals. Third, I discuss how the policy is the first of its kind to be neutral that is applied on all employees regardless of their ranks. As for the unintended consequences, I discuss three unintended consequences. First, I examine the anticipated increase in the number of layoffs. Second, I argue that the unclear provisions that do not properly define “certain crimes” can subject criminals of minor crimes for reduction or removal of bonuses, which gives more discretion to managers to interpret the law as they wish. Third, I discuss how this policy was associated with projected increase in the unemployment rates as a result of the high number of layoffs that occurred only one month after passing the law.