Ask FELTG
Have a question about federal employment law? Read below to find answers - or ask a question of your own.Ask FELTG Tackles Accommodation Request for Inability to Commute
Here's a question that recently came into FELTG's mailroom: In granting or denying a reasonable accommodation request for telework, does it make any difference if the employee’s only disability-related problem is his commute to work? Hypothetically, he does not have...
Ask FELTG: How Exactly Did Union Rep Cross Line Into Misconduct?
An item in our weekly email generated the following question: You mentioned in one of your recent newsletters that an FLRA decision illustrated union activity “that very clearly crossed the line.” As our relationship with the union here is standoffish in its best...
Ask FELTG: What do OPM’s new regulations say about clean record agreements?
OPM’s new regulations on 5 CFR parts 432 and 752, which went into effect Dec. 12, 2022, removed the 2020 regulations’ prohibition on clean record agreements. Agencies are once again free to use clean record settlements. This was probably the most contested portion of...
Ask FELTG: If Metro is Closed, Is Telework a Reasonable Accommodation?
We recently received the following question: If a Metro station is closed for construction, does our agency have to accommodate a disabled employee who usually takes the Metro to work by granting temporary telework? Thanks for the question. As in every reasonable...
Ask FELTG: Can Comments About Church Attendance State a Viable Claim of Hostile Work Environment Harassment?
October 10, 2022 Stating a claim is much easier than proving hostile work environment harassment. As we teach in EEOC Law Week, in order to prove a hostile work environment, the complainant must show she was subjected to unwelcome conduct, based on a protected EEO...
Ask FELTG: Is It OK to Screen Test Unvaccinated Employees Attending an Agency-wide Meeting?
September 6, 2022 As concern about the virus has waned, some agencies have started to allow employees to travel. And that serves as the backbone of this question. Here are the details: A number of agency employees from several locations are gathering for an onsite...
Ask FELTG Tackles Two Questions About Reasonable Accommodation
Q: An employee claims to have a family member with an underlying medical condition that makes him susceptible to severe COVID. May the agency ask for medical documentation about the family member’s condition, if that’s why the employee is seeking telework as a...
Ask FELTG: Can Discipline Be Used as a ‘Prior’ to Aggravate the Penalty?
A FELTG reader shared the following hypothetical scenario: An employee is issued a decision to suspend dated July 1. The dates of the suspension stated in the decision are August 3-7. If any misconduct that happens between July 1 and August 7, can that be considered...
Ask FELTG: Can employee use sick leave for family member with health condition without invoking FMLA – and then PPL?
May 24, 2022 We receive a lot of questions about leave through Ask FELTG, and each situation seems to have its own unique challenge. The subscriber who asked this question further explained that the hypothetical employee was the father of a newborn. FELTG Senior...
Ask FELTG: If an employee with a disability can perform his job at the worksite, why would telework as a reasonable accommodation be necessary?
It wouldn’t be necessary, though the agency could still choose to grant telework as the accommodation if it wanted to. EEOC guidance suggests that the employee’s preference on accommodation should be considered, but ultimately the agency gets to choose the...