Writing Disciplinary Charges: Get Them Right or Lose Your Case
Knowing how to charge a federal employee with an offense can make the difference in winning or losing a case.
Labor Relations
Documenting Discipline-Related Meetings
Getting the employee’s side of the story is an important first step in a possible disciplinary action. Here are tips for a federal manager or supervisor on how to prepare for and conduct a meeting on this touchy subject.
Documenting a Discipline or Performance Case: Get the Paper Right
The records that are created in a federal disciplinary or performance case can be the difference between winning or losing. Here are tips on how to create an effective paper trail.
Drinking at the VFW in Uniform is Okay Says Court
A federal employee got reinstated after having signed a last chance agreement despite drinking while wearing the agency’s uniform. The court concluded that the VFW hall was not “public place.”
EEOC Does Not Determine Authority of MSPB in Cases
An administrative judge from the EEOC may be an expert on EEO cases but that does not carry over into the expertise of the Merit Systems Protection Board. When an EEOC administative judge told a federal employee he could appeal to the Board, the MSPB and the courts did not hesitate to correct his “misplaced” advice.
Developing Agency Negotiators? Consider a Systematic Approach
Who will represent your agency in a variety of situations that each require specific skills? An agency needs a negotiator development plan to adequately protect its interests. Here is an outline of how to construct such a plan.
Use of a Government Car for This Outside Employment Venture Leads to Removal
How many ways can a federal employee get in trouble in one day? This agent had a very bad day and lost his job.
Making a Defensible Discipline Decision – What Every Federal Manager Absolutely Needs to Know
Taking action against a federal employee requires considerable paperwork. Here is a review of what has to be covered in the paperwork for one of these actions.
Ex-Con Fighting to Keep Federal Job
A federal employee was found guilty of falsifying his travel vouchers filed with the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. That led to six months in prison and a fine. But the agency’s attempt to remove him ran into a roadblock as the removal letter was “materiallly flawed.”
Supreme Court Makes It Easier to Discipline “Whistleblowers”
The US Supreme Court issues a decision that gives employers greater leeway in taking action against a whistleblower when the whistleblower’s actions were part of his official duties as a public employee.
