ATLANTA — A whistleblower at the Atlanta VA Medical Center who was demoted and disciplined for forwarding an email to Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Justin Gray has been given his job back.
But that whistleblower said he is still looking for answers from the VA on the issue that led him to speak up more than a year ago.
“They wanted to keep me silent,” Gregory Kendall told Gray after signing a settlement agreement that formally reinstates him and even includes a monetary settlement.
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In 2023, we reported on a tip from another whistleblower to the VA Inspector General that a total of 7,188 mental health calls to the Atlanta VA had “gone unanswered.”
In a whistleblower report that Channel 2 Action News obtained at the time, that VA employee warned the calls were due to not having enough people answering the phone writing in the complaint, “We are at a critical staff level and cannot answer the phones but it’s being said the phones are broken.”
Kendall said he believed Atlanta VA leadership was trying to cover up the problem from the public and Congress.
That’s why he said he alerted Gray and Channel 2 Action News about a Congressional briefing on the unanswered mental health phone calls.
The demotion letter he received cited that action for changing his title and cutting his annual salary by nearly $20,000.
The reason cited was “poor judgment” and the example given was “you forwarded an internal email to Investigative Reporter, Justin Gray inviting him to the 4 Corners Briefing.”
The “4 Corners Briefing” was a meeting with local Congressional offices about the unanswered mental health calls.
“It’s pretty clear that the VA is more concerned about attacking whistleblowers than taking care of mental health patients,” Kendall said.
However, a year after the demotion, the Office of Special Counsel restored Kendall’s job and agreed to pay $10,000 in damages.
What has not happened in that time is any public report or audit about those unanswered mental health phone calls.
“Think about those veterans who call for mental health care. And no one answers the phone. That’s something that the VA has to this day not answered. Why does it happen? And what are they doing to prevent it from happening again? That’s a problem and it needs to be addressed,” Kendall told Gray.
The VA Inspector General said it does not confirm or deny investigations.
We reached out to the Atlanta VA Medical Center which told us:
“We at VA take whistleblower protection very seriously and are dedicated to maintaining a safe environment where employees can confidently report concerns – without fear of retaliation or retribution. While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we remain committed to upholding these standards across the organization.
The Atlanta VA Health Care System has made significant progress in reducing the number of unanswered mental health calls since April 2023. The staff is consistently meeting the national call center goals of less than 5% unanswered calls and an on-average speed to answer time of less than 30 seconds. We continue to build on these improvements and ensure that Veterans receive the support they need when they need it.”
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