VA workers gain right to union rep during disciplinary exams
H.R. 6014 — Right to Representation for Department of Veterans Affairs Workers Act of 2025 · Filed by Delia Ramirez (D-IL) · 14 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to give most Department of Veterans Affairs employees the right to have a representative of their choice present during workplace examinations if they believe the examination may lead to disciplinary action against them. The right applies on duty time if applicable. Senior executives, certain medical appointees, and political appointees are excluded.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to grant VA employees a procedural right to representation during disciplinary examinations. This is a straightforward labor-protection measure, not a budgetary, commemorative, or deregulatory instrument.
What the text implies
- The right applies only 'if applicable' on duty time, leaving room for interpretation about whether representation must occur during work hours or can be deferred to off-duty time in some circumstances.
- Exclusion of senior executives and political appointees means those highest-ranking VA officials retain fewer procedural protections than rank-and-file employees—a reversal of typical hierarchical privilege.
- The bill does not specify what happens if an employee's chosen representative is unavailable or if the VA denies access; enforcement mechanism and remedies are not addressed in this text.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
VA employees gain a procedural right to representation during examinations that may lead to discipline, strengthening their ability to defend themselves and reducing the risk of unfair or one-sided disciplinary proceedings. This is a standard labor-protection measure that improves workplace fairness for federal workers.
Named in the bill
Department of Veterans Affairs, 38 U.S.C. § 7 (Subchapter I, Chapter 7), 38 U.S.C. § 713, 38 U.S.C. § 714, 38 U.S.C. § 7306, 7401, 7405
Where it stands
14 cosponsors: 14 Democrats.
- Nov 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $690,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 83 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Delia Ramirez, the sponsor, reported $383,900 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees — $690,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,498 characters) on Jul 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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