VA executive calls Phila. 'worst' benefits office

WASHINGTON - A top Veterans Affairs investigator said Wednesday that the department's probe of employees at the Philadelphia benefits office is ongoing and that the embattled site will not improve without new leadership.

Going beyond the scathing report issued by her office last week, Assistant Inspector General Linda Halliday told a congressional committee that the Philadelphia office needs "a culture change" if it is to improve its service to veterans.

Of all the VA regional offices, "Philadelphia is clearly the most problematic," Halliday told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs as a handful of Philadelphia-based whistle-blowers watched from the gallery. "There is such fear of reprisal, and fear from the employees who I believe are trying to do a good job."

The five-hour hearing at times rehashed complaints about the Germantown office that first emerged nearly a year ago. But it also offered a glimpse of new and potentially inflammatory allegations.

A union official testified that the facility's director had ordered a "sham investigation" into the unexpected death of a coworker who had complained about being bullied by managers. A whistle-blower lodged new claims of data manipulation. And the committee chairman grilled one witness about a claim that employees at the Philadelphia office may have been pressured to hire a manager's wife - a medium who claimed she could communicate with the dead.

VA officials made clear they will hold staffers accountable if their review uncovers intentional wrongdoing.

Danny Pummill, the principal undersecretary for benefits, said officials plan to take "the harshest action" warranted once the agency's internal review is completed in June.

But that promise did little to calm concerns from committee Republicans, who questioned why the VA cannot take disciplinary action based on the inspector general's report.

"We have no acknowledgment that people have been fired, which calls into question whether everyone is just covering each other's hide," said Rep. Ryan Costello, a Chester County Republican on the committee. "Because, if we started pointing fingers, we'd really start to know who actually is culpable."

Pummill acknowledged the challenges, saying bluntly that "Philadelphia is the worst" regional benefits office in the country. But he also reiterated that nearly all of the inspector general's findings have been addressed.

In its report last week, the inspector general detailed concerns including: an estimated 6,000 pieces of mail that sorters had stamped as "unidentifiable" though in many cases a phone number or return address was available; $2.2 million in overpayments to veterans; and 31,000 inquiries that had been ignored, on average for almost a year.

The office oversees benefits for 825,000 people in Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware, and also houses one of the VA's three pension management centers. Halliday said she had serious concerns about the office's ability to appropriately administer the wide range of services.

And she said she worried that the problems found in Philadelphia and other regional offices are signs of a "systematic trend" of data manipulation across the VA, motivated by a desire to inflate performance numbers.

Joseph Malizia, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 940, which represents some of the facility's 950 employees, said the pressure to meet performance goals can be overwhelming and has led to a hostile work environment.

He described ongoing problems, including what he said was an inadequate investigation by the office's new director, Diana Rubens, into the death of an employee from the pension management center who had complained about being bullied in a training class.

The employee, an unidentified veteran who had post-traumatic stress disorder, was found dead at his home shortly after Christmas, Malizia said in prepared testimony. He said Rubens appointed two employees from the center to investigate the death, rather than referring the case to a different department or outside of the office.

"When I never received an investigative report on my complaint, I asked Director Rubens for it," Malizia said. "She told me there were no findings of inappropriate actions, therefore there is no report."

Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R., Fla.) also grilled Rubens on the $301,000 paid to relocate her from Washington to Philadelphia.

Rubens kept about $84,000 of the amount, while the rest went to a government contractor that purchased Rubens' Virginia home when it did not sell.

That VA home-purchase program is offered for positions considered hard to fill, officials say. Miller, though, said Rubens had wanted to relocate to Philadelphia for some time.

"Do you have any family members who live close by?" Miller asked. Rubens said that she grew up in Delaware, and that her mother, sister, and nephews live in Wilmington.

"Twenty-eight minutes," Miller said. "Close?"

"It depends on how you go and what time of day, sir," Rubens shot back.

When pressed, Rubens said the program was meant to ensure a quick and smooth transition to Philadelphia.

Halliday said the Inspector General's Office is reviewing that relocation payment, as well as claims of "misuse of positions" by two senior leaders at the office. She declined to elaborate, but details later emerged on their own.

Miller pressed Lucy Filipov, the office's assistant director, about claims she had hosted a dinner party where employees were offered the chance to hire a medium for $30. The medium was the wife of Gary Hodge, a manager who oversaw the s pension center.

Filipov said she could not talk about the party because it was being investigated by the inspector general.

But Miller said he would not drop the issue and would hold another hearing when the investigation is done.

"The question I want to ask you, and I'll give you time to think about, is, did you voice any concerns at the time that your guests were asked to pay Mrs. Hodge for her services, knowing that many of them were in Mr. Hodge's direct or indirect chain of command?" he said. "An easy question for you to answer when you return."

Gary Hodge was reassigned to a position in Washington last week. A man who answered a call to his house Thursday said Hodge was not there, and a message seeking comment was not returned.