(Washington Examiner) - DeWayne Hamlin, the top official of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Puerto Rico hospital, was absent from the hospital some 80 days in a one-year period, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Hamlin was paid $179,700 despite being absent from the hospital approximately one in three business days last year, according to “delegation of authority” documents by which he temporarily transferred his job responsibilities to deputies.
In April 2014, for example, he was absent from the 10th to the 18th, then from the 24th to the 27th. He also submitted a delegation document saying he would be gone the 28th and 29th. For part of that time, he was traveling to Florida, where he previously lived. He was arrested by Florida police while sitting in his car at 2:00 a.m. on the 26th.
Police said that he smelled of alcohol, twice refused to take a breath test, and that they found oxycodone for which he did not have a prescription. He reportedly refused to say where he got the painkiller.
April 2014 was not atypical of his attendance. Throughout the year, Hamlin took multiple absences, sometimes missing only a day and other times being away for a week. He missed about 100 days in the 14 months ending in June 2014.
Hamlin is a member of the Senior Executive Service, the highest rank for career civil service managers, and previously worked at veterans hospitals in the continental U.S.
Veterans Affairs leadership has seldom fired or disciplined its own. Under severe scrutiny recently from Congress and the news media, department leaders occasionally accept retirements by employees like Glenn Haggstrom instead of pursuing disciplinary action.
Haggstrom retired with full benefits despite having been in charge of the department’s construction projects for years. All of the department’s major construction projects are behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, according to the Government Accountability Office.
But collecting a government salary without showing up to work can be a serious offense. Earlier this month, Stephany West, a federal civil servant in Tampa, Fla., pleaded guilty to theft of government funds for being absent 50 percent of the time while drawing a salary. She faces 10 years in prison.
Veterans Affairs headquarters officials did not respond to the Examiner when asked if Hamlin obtained painkillers from the hospital he directed, whether his many absences resulted in management problems, or how he was able to maintain a senior executive position despite being away from the job so frequently.
Asked how many vacation days a year he was allotted and how many sick and vacation days he used, the Puerto Rico hospital sent a one-sentence statement from Mary Kay Hollingsworth, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs’ Sunshine Healthcare Network, of which the Caribbean system is a part, saying the network “reviewed this matter in 2014 and found that Mr. Hamlin’s attendance was in conformance with applicable rules and regulations.”
Despite his own problems, Hamlin sought the firing of a lower-level employee who reported his Florida arrest to Veterans Affairs headquarters officials. When an investigator refused to back the firing, saying it was unwarranted, the hospital filed paperwork to fire the investigator instead.
In an April 9, 2013 letter, Hamlin warned his staff not to raise issues with the hospital to outside entities, apparently including Congress and the media.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to remind VA Caribbean Health Care System employees to follow the grievance and/or complaint processes that are in place. Since joining VACHS, numerous employees have contacted sources external to the Medical Center,” he wrote.
“Contacting and attempting to engage external sources and/or the director for early intervention may compromise the legitimacy and urgency of the disputes,” he said.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/veterans-affairs-hospital-chief-draws-179k-salary-despite-missing-80-days-a-year/article/2562239
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