Tips for Federal Employees Responding to Disciplinary Actions
This is a basic overview of how federal employees can respond to a notice of disciplinary action.
Douglas Factors
A Welder, a Shipyard, and the Path to Generic Discipline
The disciplinary process in federal human resources is often long and complex. A recent case took a simpler approach.
A Tale of Two Factors
The author says that federal HR advisors have gotten more cautious in their approach to discipline and often overlook the main focus of solving the problem.
Arbitration: The Seven Tests of ‘Just Cause’
The author describes a seven part standard for analyzing the discipline or discharge of an employee which can help with upholding these types of decisions.
3 Ideas For Dealing With Problem Employees
Three recent reports raised the issue of dealing with problem employees. The author analyzes the reports and offers three steps he says would also help.
Bad Press Aggravates Agencies and Penalty Decisions
Because of the Douglas Factors, federal employees that damage an agency’s reputation can face demotion or removal.
MSPB Trashes “Douglas” in Poorly Reasoned Decision
The MSPB appears to have thrown a seminal decision into doubt in second guessing a deciding official who had considered the “Douglas Factors”.
Reconsidering Two Douglas Factors
The author says it’s time to consider limiting the Douglas Factors to a smaller number.
Decades and the Douglas Factors
For three decades, federal HR has been working with the 12 “factors” from an MSPB decision. However, much has changed since then.
