UNETHICAL HIRING PRACTICES UNCOVERED AT FAYETTEVILLE VA --

DIRECTOR JANET STOUT AND THREE MANAGERS

TO BE DISCIPLINED

Story here... http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=228759

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Report reveals unethical hiring at VA Medical Center

By John Fuquay
Staff writer

RALEIGH — Disciplinary action has been recommended for Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center Director Janet Stout and three senior managers after a federal investigation that substantiated unethical hiring practices.

In three cases, senior managers used questionable hiring procedures to hire the spouses of other senior managers, according to the federal report. A fourth case involved the hiring of a manager’s fiancee.

One of the spouses was hired despite a panel’s review that ranked the spouse 11th in a field of 21 applicants. Another spouse was found unable to perform her duties after eight days on the job because she didn’t have suitable experience.

The other managers involved in the hiring are associate directors Orlando Dunson and Vera Hansen, and Clint Nordan, who was an acting associate director during some of the hirings. Stout and each of the managers declined interview requests Thursday.

Medical Center spokeswoman Norma Byrd said, “It would just be inappropriate for them to comment at this time.’’ She said all four remain employed at the hospital.

The four hirings happened between February 2003 and June 2004 and were investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. The report, “Administrative Investigation, Appearance of Preferential Treatment,’’ was published in September.

In a separate investigation, a human resource officer asked for and received a $20,930 annual raise within 90 days on the job. The report says a salary reclassification after an employee has accepted an appointment is against federal procedure.
No illegalities

The OIG investigation concluded that none of the hirings was illegal. However, it said “the pattern of senior managers hiring other senior managers’ spouses/fiancee under questionable circumstances gave the appearance that preferential treatment was afforded to them in violation of federal ethics regulations.’’

The report does not prove that Stout and the other managers actually gave preferential treatment. However, it recommends action against them for creating the appearance of giving preferential treatment. The findings are based on sworn testimony from current and former employees and a review of personnel records.

Judy Shelly, an OIG official in Washington familiar with the investigation, said Wednesday that the VA director of the multistate district that includes North Carolina concurred with unspecified administrative action against Stout and the other managers. She said action could range from counseling to termination, depending on the director’s record.

However, the district director conducted a separate investigation and submitted recommendations to a VA undersecretary in Washington. Action on those recommendations is pending. The undersecretary, William Feeley, could not be reached for comment.

The OIG and the district director agreed to “target’’ dates to complete the administrative actions against Stout and the other managers. The most recent of those dates passed Oct. 3, but Shelly emphasized that those were target dates.

“They may feel they need to do some further investigating to determine what that action might be,’’ Shelly said. “The purpose is to determine what level of action is appropriate.’’
Leadership concerns

Daniel Hoffman, the district director over VA facilities in North Carolina, Virginia and parts of West Virginia and South Carolina, was unavailable. His spokesman, Dave Raney, declined to discuss the recommendations because they are pending. He said there were no new developments that caused the target dates to be missed.

“Our director is very concerned about leadership at those facilities,’’ Raney said. “He’s very concerned about ethical leadership, and he wants to be fair and above board.’’

The OIG report was provided to The Fayetteville Observer through a Freedom of Information Act request; however, the names and job titles of the spouses and fiancee were concealed. Because the OIG said naming the spouses and fiancee would invade their privacy, it remains uncertain whether they are the spouses or fiancee of Stout or any of the managers.

The report also does not identify the individual whose complaint prompted the investigation.

One spouse was hired to a temporary position in the emergency management service department. The report said the department head had no involvement in the hiring and learned about it from Stout on the day the spouse reported for work. The position was not advertised to determine whether federally displaced employees were interested, which is a federal hiring requirement.

The manager who hired the spouse who ranked 11th among 21 applicants told the OIG he felt pressured by Nordan to hire the spouse. The manager said he initially did not know what duties to assign the spouse and rewrote the position’s job description to give the spouse suitable duties.

Another spouse was hired to a part-time position by a human resources officer following Dunson’s instructions, the report said. Dunson had received the spouse’s resume from her husband. The position had been vacant several months, and requests to fill the position had been ignored until the spouse emerged as a candidate, the report said.

It also said Dunson is normally involved in hiring upper-level employees and not part-time employees. Eight days after the spouse was hired, she was considered unqualified. The report said she was given another job seven months later but does not specify her role during the interim.

Hansen hired the fiancee over six applicants without interviewing the fiancee. She interviewed all the other employees she hired from outside the medical center, according to the report.
Reclassifications

In another investigation, the OIG determined Dunson and Stout erroneously approved the salary and job reclassification of the medical center’s human resource officer, whose name also was concealed in the report. In recommendations for corrections, the officer was directed to repay the excess salary.

The investigation was not related to December’s deadly shooting between two employees who worked in the hospital’s pharmacy and had a decade-long affair.

Arthur James Charland Jr., 42, faces a federal murder charge in the shooting death of Linda Faye Owens. The trial is scheduled to begin in May. An OIG official in Washington said the agency is investigating the shooting with the FBI.

Staff writer John Fuquay can be reached at fuquayj@fayettevillenc.com  or (919) 828-7641.

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Larry Scott

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