Re: Mr. Sunshine!

How exactly is this anti-workforce? It's practical advice - if you have a 3% chance of success by filing a grievance, the author suggests saving yourself your time and money and moving on to a better job and making a better life for yourself elsewhere. Discussing getting fired is never fun, but that sounds like about as upbeat a take on it as you can get. Besides, would you really want to work in a job with supervisors you had to fight tooth and nail to let you stay there? They would probably come down on you hard in the future at the first chance they got.

Re: Mr. Sunshine!

Tough decisions are never very fun--certainly not when they involve something as unpleasant as contemplating one's potential termination of employment.

But sometimes it's necessary to put away the emotion and size things up objectively in order to make the best decision. In the fine game of poker that comes in the form of understanding and applying the odds.

When the odds are clearly against you the choice comes down to deciding whether you feel sufficiently lucky enough, or emotionally upset enough, to ignore them---and then live with the consequences of that decision.

I don't see this as anti-workforce----quite the opposite, in fact----and I seriously doubt the author intended it that way. When you boil it down, it amounts to "recognize the reality of these situations, get yourself a good rep/lawyer, and make the best/smartest deal you can." That---at least to me---sounds like friendly, good advice.

Re: Mr. Sunshine!

New to this "sight" huh? Well this SITE offers some good advice for employees and supervisors. If you are looking for a one-sided view, check out a union SITE.

Re: Mr. Sunshine!

HR Specialist/DOD: Geez, lighten up a bit! Not even the spellchecker would have caught Border Patrol's substitution of "sight" for "site," and these online aren't exactly polished documents. Consequently, postings are inevitably chock full of glitches and typos like that. Maybe you've never let one slip out the door, but that would make you a member of a very small group. Congrats if you are, but it would sure improve this forum if we could all ease up a bit on zapping each other at every opportunity.

Re: Mr. Sunshine!

Note to Chief Labor Negotiator: I know the difference between a "sight" and a "site." Granted the person who made the mistake may be a victim of American public schools, but that handicap can be overcome. I overcame it. I urge everyone else to do so, too. Learn to read and to reason, so you'll know when the politicians are lying to you. (Hint: usually when their lips are moving, they're lying.) While you're learning, a correction should be taken as helpful, not as an insult. Who knows how many other readers of this site also learned that it's not a sight?

"Spell check" is one of my pet peeves. It's an abomination before the Lord that encourages illiteracy.

Re: Mr. Sunshine!

Sunshine,

I think 3% is rather high LOLOL. I was terminated from 23 years of successful to outstanding conduct and performance. The worse part is that the MSPB upheld the charge while knowing the agency did not prove the charge. ANY federal employee thinking they are protected, forget it. Hey I know a guy that was terminated by a (non) manager that did not have authorization to remove him. ANY federal employee thinking they are protected from abitrary actions, forget it.

Re: Solid Advice, Very Well Expressed

it's a little misleading writing that ."you can get a lawyer of your own after you receive a "proposed removal notice" so you can wait until then or use... the union"
Anyone has the right and can ALWAYS get a Lawyer at any time. I sure don't recommend waiting until AFTER receiving a proposed removal notice when it may be too late.. As a 22+ year employee, I called an experienced attorney this year when I was put on a performance improvement plan, and am grateful that I did.

Re: Just in Time

Gee, did I just write this --- and I don't even work at VA? My story WAS very much the same, I did what Bob G. suggests and got outta Dodge, thus avoiding tons of bad kharma. Thus, I should be happy on the beach with my Free Lunches. Sure, the system assures enough to live on coming in, we get those generous 2.1% raises, but we also sit around for years popping Prozac like peanuts and thinking that surely our emolument wasn't computed correctly, but the folks at OPM don't have time to look at old cases.... Here's your "up" side: in another few years, we'll be dead. And in the meantime, we don't have to get up by the alarm clock, only for the... ummm---

Re: Just in Time

VSR--this is the perfect example of a situation where the employee can work with the supervisor/agency to resolve the situation. Acknowledge that the job was not a good move for you and look for a new job, possibly back at your old agency where you were succeeding. Just ask the supervisor for a little time before they take action. Like the article says, most supervisors don't want to fire employees and will try to help employees find a way out of a bad situation.

As for the retired HR Specialist--you don't have to sit around popping prozac during your retirement. That's your choice. You could also go out and get another job--something that is meaningful to you, supplements your current income, and gives you a reason to get up in the morning.

Re: Just in Time

Sounds to me like you may have been a whistleblower?

Send an email to rkayem@yahoo.com.
There is someone that may be able to help you move in the right direction. Also, please cut and paste your response here into the email, and make sure you put FedEmp in the subject line.