Given a short time to make an unpleasant decision about whether to resign or receive a proposed notice of removal, an errant federal manager opted to resign but then filed an appeal. Unlike MSPB Member Sapin, the court had no problem with the short period of time to make an unpleasant decision as the agency could have just issued the notice of proposed removal.
Solving a performance problem in the complex world of the federal human resources environment takes time, energy, patience and considerable work. This part of the article explains how to define the problem and tools to address the problem.
Federal supervisors have the option of imposing leave restrictions on a person who may be abusing leave. Here are the steps a supervisor should take leading up to this process.
Writing a performance standard for EEO is different than in other areas. Here is why it is different and a suggestion for writing a better standard.
Federal law addresses the removal of a career civil service employee for treason and for unacceptable performance in detail. Discipline for other reasons isn’t so clearly spelled out. This article shows a path through the maze of Federal rules governing discipline for managers who do not do this every day.
This Social Security Administration employee encountered problems in her first job with the agency and resigned after one suspension and a proposed second suspension. She was hired in a different office in another state two years later. After the job became permanent, the agency sent her a proposed removal notice for a variety of charges. She went to federal court after losing before the MSPB.
A federal court found that a GS-15 federal employee was seeking judicial review of a personnel decision to suspend him by using the Privacy Act as an end-run around Civil Service Reform Act procedures. The case took three years.
An Interior Department employee who helped write a new grievance procedure was removed by a reduction in force (RIF). He ignored the new procedure he helped write and convinced a federal appeals court he had the right to appeal the RIF to the MSPB even though the law authorizing the agency’s alternative personnel system took away this right.
An Immigration Judge fired for repeated use of “sexist and ethnically insensitive generalizations” and profanity, failed to persuade the federal appeals court to overturn the Merit Systems Protection Board decision that upheld his firing.
Third parties sometimes follow a new trend without specifically stating they are doing so. In several recent decisions, the Board seems to be giving agency deciding officials the benefit of the doubt when reviewing agency actions. Here is a quick summary.
