In the wake of recent privacy-violating probing of presidential candidates’ passport files and earlier losses by agencies of computers or hard drives containing sensitive employee data, it appears the risk of nosy feds, political paparazzi, curious contractors and others getting personal personnel info may be at an all time high. What’s going on?
“Some aggrieved federal employees like to sue co-workers and supervisors in their individual capacity. In most cases this is basically a waste of time.”
A settlement agreement between HUD and federal employee unions on the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to agency employees will result in a payment of $24 million.
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.
If you come through a job interview without messing up and damaging your chances you are going to be ahead of most of your competition. Here are some of the most common mistakes made by job applicants during an interview.
There are changes on the horizon for federal travelers. The change in the mileage reimbursement rate is already in place but other changes that will be significant for some readers are in the proposal stage.
A temporary employee applied for a permanent job and was selected–even though the announcement indicated the job was not open to temporary employees. She lost the job as a result so the employee filed an appeal contending that since she was now in a permanent job, she now had full appeal rights. The case went to federal court as the former temp tried to expand the coverage of the federal employee appeal process but the court did not buy the argument.
A recent notice in the Federal Register is the latest step by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to clamp down on frequent trading in TSP funds. The notice makes the argument that the restrictions are necessary to protect the interests of the majority of TSP investors whose financial investments are being put at risk by the actions of those trying to time the market and forcing all TSP participants to accept additional financial risk they did not anticipate. A press release from a group opposed to the changes states that the cost of trading for each TSP shareholder has declined despite the market timing activities of some TSP participants.
A 19-year postal employee with no prior misconduct worked at a Post Office where she supervised clerks and served as the finance supervisor. She was demoted to a part-time job. The MSPB administrative judge sustained the penalty after finding only a lesser charge had been proved. A federal court returns the case as “The agency has not yet articulated what less severe sentence should be imposed when it proved only a much less severe charge.”
Federal employees who perform civil service work year in and year out do not need to have their evaluations tied to the agency’s strategic planning process.
