NDAs for VA employees working on staff reduction plans prompts House Dems probe

House Democrats are probing whether the Veterans Affairs Department is unlawfully preventing its employees from engaging with lawmakers or other oversight bodies, asking the agency to provide more information on the “gag orders” it has implemented for part of its workforce. 

The letter from House Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., follows Government Executive’s reporting that VA was requiring employees working on the department’s plan to slash its workforce to sign non-disclosure agreements. The unusual move has prevented supervisors from sharing basic information with staff and raised questions about whether VA was skirting whistleblower protection laws. 

“To ensure that the Trump Administration is not unlawfully prohibiting or intimidating current or former employees from communicating any such abuses to Congress, we request documents and information related to these reports,” Connolly said in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins on Tuesday. 

VA has in recent weeks held meetings with representatives from across the department to discuss its workforce reduction plans after standing up a Reorganization Implementation Cell. Senior Executive Service and General Schedule-14 and 15 employees serving in those roles have signed NDAs that prohibit them from discussing those efforts. Government Executive first reported that VA plans to cut its workforce down to fiscal 2019 levels, leading to cuts of around 80,000 employees.

Connolly suggested the NDAs raise questions about efforts to “undercut whistleblower protections.” By law, any NDAs in government must include language that affirmatively states the agreements do not supersede employees’ right to discuss the matters at hand with Congress, inspectors general or the Office of Special Counsel. NDAs within federal agencies are typically limited to procurement-sensitive discussions and national security settings that include classified information and deploying them for personnel matters is rare. 

“The imposition of confidentiality agreements could chill employees from disclosing violations of waste, fraud, and abuse to Congress,” Connolly said. “It is imperative that these courageous truthtellers are able to expose misconduct without fear of retaliation or reprisal.” 

The top oversight Democrat asked VA to, by May 26, provide any documents or communications since President Trump took office related to any NDA, confidentiality agreement or other restriction on employees disclosing information. He specifically asked for details on any restrictions employees might face in communicating with Congress, IGs or OSC. 

Connolly further asked Collins to “do right by our nation’s veterans and issue an official statement to make clear that you will stand up for federal whistleblower rights and honor this critical accountability measure to the American people.”

VA did not respond to an inquiry into Government Executive’s initial reporting nor to questions about House Democrats’ probe. 

Connolly is the latest lawmaker to raise concerns about VA’s NDAs. In a hearing last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, asked Collins to “avoid the use of non-disclosure agreements with employees so that we can get more facts from them.”

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., Blumenthal’s House counterpart, has said the NDAs could illegally circumvent whistleblower protection laws and encouraged employees to come forward to help lawmakers shed a light on the process. 

“The use of NDAs in this context looks like a deliberate effort by the Trump administration to silence VA employees and block oversight," Takano said. "Secretary Collins has failed to answer basic questions from Congress, and now his department is doubling down on secrecy."