We Don’t Need Civil Service Reform, Part II: Accountability Doesn’t Take as Much Time as You Think

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By Deborah Hopkins, August 14, 2019

Last month, I published the first article in a three-part series We Don’t Need Civil Service Reform, where I discussed how holding employees accountable is not as difficult as you think. A couple readers took issue with that premise, and said it’s NOT that easy. Well, at FELTG our instructors’ experience, some as former federal managers and some as legal consultants to dozens of agencies over the years, leads us to this conclusion: Although some agencies have built managerial problems for themselves, when it comes to misconduct and performance removals, the procedures are indeed simple. Actions can be taken without great pains. We don’t make this stuff up.

If you haven’t read the article, I recommend you do before you move on to today’s topic.

Have you noticed when you read the news or watch politicians on TV, the theme about federal employees, on a continuous loop, is that it takes forever to take any action against them? In reality, yes, agencies are taking far too long to take action against employees who have performance or conduct issues. But, it shouldn’t take a long time – and even better, it doesn’t have to.

Holding employees accountable is not as time-consuming as you think it is.

There are legal timelines for taking misconduct and performance actions and unless your agency policy or collective bargaining agreement says you have to do otherwise, I don’t know why you wouldn’t comply with the legal minimums. In addition, the documents needed to discipline an employee, or to put the employee on a performance demonstration period (or DP, the preliminary action formerly known as the PIP) shouldn’t take weeks or months to draft.

In DISCIPLINE cases, here’s the timeline:

Reprimand: Issue this immediately – as in, the same day the employee violates a workplace rule, or the day you find out the rule was violated. The longer you wait, the more of a disservice you do to yourself (it doesn’t count as discipline until the reprimand is given to the employee) and to the employee (she doesn’t have a chance to “learn” from the reprimand until she has received it).

It also doesn’t make logical sense to wait months to issue a reprimand. Such a delay undermines the assertion that “What you did was bad, and we won’t put up with it.” Legally, you can still issue a reprimand months after the misconduct – but why would you wait?

Short suspension: The proposal for the short suspension (anything a pay period or less) should also be handed to the employee as soon as practicable after the employee violates the workplace rule – generally within a week.

The employee then has a minimum of 24 hours to prepare a response to the deciding official (some agency policies or CBAs allow 7 or 10 days for the response), and the deciding official’s decision after considering the proposal and the employee’s response, can go into effect the next day.

That’s right. If an employee violates a rule on a Monday, the proposal can be given to the employee on Wednesday or Thursday, and the suspension could be served starting as soon as the following Monday.

Removals, demotions, and long suspensions: We recommend you never demote an employee or suspend for more than a pay period – come to MSPB Law Week if you want to know why – so I’ll focus this on removal actions.

The proposed removal should be issued to the employee immediately after the conclusion of the misconduct investigation, and the employee should be placed on notice leave so as not to disrupt the workplace. After all, the employee has done something so bad he deserves to be fired, so the longer you wait, the weaker it makes your argument about the nature and seriousness of the offense. The employee then has a minimum of 7 days to respond to the proposal (again, check policy or CBA). At any point after the response, and within 19 calendar days (per Executive Order 13839) the deciding official must make a decision, which can become effective as soon as day 31 (if the proposal is day 1).

Yes, an employee who violates workplace rules can be out of the workplace and off the payroll in a little over a month after the misconduct occurs.

In PERFORMANCE cases, the timeline looks like this:

As soon as the supervisor can articulate why the employee’s performance is unacceptable on a critical element in the performance plan, the supervisor should initiate a 30-calendar-day demonstration period – what we used to call a PIP – to allow the employee to show he can perform his job at an acceptable level. If the employee is not successful, his removal or demotion should be proposed immediately after the end of the demonstration period. In fact many agencies, such as USDA and HHS, have policies requiring a decision about the employee’s future to be made within 7 days of the end of the demonstration period.

After the proposal is issued, the employee then has a minimum 7-day response time, the same as in proposed disciplinary removals. But here’s where things become different from disciplinary cases: the deciding official is legally required to issue a decision within 30 days of the expiration of the notice period. Functionally, that falls between days 31 and 60, if the proposal is issued day 1.

It’s true, my friends. It only takes a month to remove a poor performer and MSPB has never NEVER NEVER found a 30-day demonstration period to be too short. The only time you have to make that period longer is if your CBA requires it, or perhaps if the person comes down with some terrible illness and is out of the workplace for three weeks out of the demonstration period.

Whether it’s a misconduct or a performance problem, you can have the employee off the rolls within just a few short weeks. It shouldn’t take months or years. The system as it exists is built for efficiency. You just have to use it the way it was intended.

Join us next time for Part III, where we discuss how holding employees accountable does not take as much proof as you think.

Take care out there. [email protected]

The Good News: Mulvaney is Wrong!

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By Ann Boehm, August 14, 2019

Acting Chief of Staff to the President and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney recently spoke at a Republican Party event in South Carolina and boasted about the Administration’s clever way of getting Federal employees to quit.

He explained that by moving Department of Agriculture employees “outside this liberal haven of Washington, DC” the employees quit. This is a great thing, according to Mulvaney, because “[i]t’s really hard to drain the swamp.” He said, “it is nearly impossible to fire a federal worker.” And, he clearly believes getting Federal employees to quit benefits the country. To quote the Church Lady, “Well, isn’t that special?”

Folks, Mr. Mulvaney is on swampy, not solid, ground.  Here are three reasons why.

DC Federal employees are not the part of the swamp that needs draining (um, that would be Congress). I come from a distinguished line of DC swamp dwellers.  My father, sister, and I all retired from the swamp.  My husband is a current swamp dweller.  I promise you the American taxpayer has gotten plenty of value from their tax dollars with us.

Also, I’ve worked with many, many amazing DC swamp dwellers. Interestingly, they are not all liberal. Fox News was often the channel of choice in the office gym.

But that doesn’t even matter. Most of the Federal employees with whom I have worked in the DC area are hardworking, committed, talented employees.  There’s no reason to want them to quit. They should be praised.

Federal employees don’t work only in DC. I have been a FELTG instructor since November of 2018. During that time, I have spoken to outstanding managers, supervisors, attorneys, human resources specialists, and employees in 17 different states, including Alaska and Hawaii.  These folks protect our national parks, our national defense, our water rights, Federal lands, public health – so many things that most Americans either take for granted or don’t even realize. Apparently Mr. Mulvaney is unaware.

You can fire Federal employees. There are some bad Federal employees, and they are like bad apples. They can spoil the whole bunch. But here’s the truth: They can be fired for performance or misconduct. There’s a process but, as we teach and write about repeatedly, you can handle problem employees. In fact, you must handle problem employees.

Federal employees, hold your head high.  Do your public service.  Prove Mr. Mulvaney wrong and get rid of the bad employees — and cheer on the good ones, even in swampy DC!  And keep up the good work! [email protected]

Accommodation and Performance Issues

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By Barbara Haga, August 14, 2019

The topic of accommodation sometimes arises when an employee is having difficulties meeting the performance requirements of the position, and could also occur when the level of performance has dropped even though it is still acceptable performance. This month, I continue the discussion of these issues as addressed in the EEOC guidance document The Americans With Disabilities Act: Applying Performance And Conduct Standards To Employees With Disabilities. 

Section III.a of the guidance document covers the matters addressed in this column.  Sections quoted from the EEOC document are in italics.

Performance at Fully Successful or better.  Question 4 deals with situations where the employee only raises the issue of disability after performance had fallen to a level lower than what had been met previously had been reached. In the Federal workplace, this could be an employee who received a Level 4 Exceeds Fully Successful last cycle, but a Fully Successful this cycle.

4) If an employer gives a lower performance rating to an employee and the employee responds by revealing she has a disability that is causing the performance problem, may the employer still give the lower rating? Yes. The rating reflects the employee’s performance regardless of what role, if any, disability may have played.  

Example 4: Last year Nicole received an “above average” review at her annual performance evaluation. During the current year Nicole had to deal with a number of medical issues concerning her disability. As a result, she was unable to devote the same level of time and effort to her job as she did during the prior year. She did not request reasonable accommodation (i.e., inform the employer that she requires an adjustment or change as a result of a medical condition). The quantity and quality of Nicole’s work were not as high and she received an “average” rating. The supervisor does not have to raise Nicole’s rating even though the decline in performance was related to her disability.

In this example, if Nicole filed a grievance over the rating, the fact that she had difficulty maintaining the level of performance previously assigned because of a physical or mental condition should not affect the outcome. Assuming that the supervisor completed the rating properly and could substantiate the ratings assigned, the performance in this case was judged against the written standard and assessed as meeting those requirements but not exceeding them, so the deciding official should sustain the rating.

If Nicole gave the disability as a reason for the lower performance accomplishment, there should then be a conversation with Nicole about future performance. In the Practical Guidance following Q.4, the EEOC writes: If an employee states that her disability is the cause of the performance problem, the employer could follow up by making clear what level of performance is required and asking why the employee believes the disability is affecting performance. If the employee does not ask for an accommodation (the obligation generally rests with the employee to ask), the employer may ask whether there is an accommodation that may help raise the employee’s performance level.

 Performance at Unacceptable. What if the performance is at a level which would warrant some corrective action has already occurred and the issue of disability arises?  Questions 5 and 6 deal with these scenarios. The basic premise is as follows:

When an employee does not give notice of the need for accommodation until after a performance problem has occurred, reasonable accommodation does not require that the employer:

– tolerate or excuse the poor performance;

– withhold disciplinary action (including termination) warranted by the poor performance;

– raise a performance rating; or

– give an evaluation that does not reflect the employee’s actual performance

If the employee requests accommodation because a disability is interfering with the ability to maintain acceptable performance, two different scenarios could present themselves, whether the request occurred after the opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance (ODAP) was concluded or was raised prior or during the ODAP.

Post ODAP.  The guidance document provides a private sector example of what would happen when the disability was not raised until after the warnings and corrective procedures had taken place.

Example 9: An employee with a small advertising firm has a learning disability. Because the employee had a bad experience at a prior job when he requested accommodation, he decides not to disclose his disability or ask for any accommodations during the application process or once he begins working. Performance problems soon arise, and the employee’s supervisor brings them to the employee’s attention. He tries to solve the problems on his own, but cannot. The firm follows its policy on counseling and disciplining employees who are failing to meet minimum requirements, but these efforts are unsuccessful. When the supervisor meets with the employee to terminate his employment, the employee asks for a reasonable accommodation.

The employer may refuse the request for reasonable accommodation and proceed with the termination because an employer is not required to excuse performance problems that occurred prior to the accommodation request. Once an employer makes an employee aware of performance problems, the employee must request any accommodations needed to rectify them. This employee waited too long to request reasonable accommodation.

For a Federal employee, this could play out in two ways. One, in a conversation at the conclusion of the PIP advising the employee that he/she was not successful in reaching an acceptable level of performance, the employee raises the disability. The issue of a disability could also be raised in conjunction with a reply to a subsequent proposed adverse action based on the failed ODAP. In neither case would the agency be required to forgive the unacceptable performance as an accommodation.

We’ll continue to explore these performance-related issues next time!

Tips From the Other Side: August 2019

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By Meghan Droste, August 14, 2019

According to the EEOC’s federal sector data, harassment is the most common issue in federal sector EEO complaints, with over 8,000 filed in fiscal year 2018.  See Form 462 Complaints Tables.

Unfortunately, the improper fragmentation of harassment claims is one of the most common errors agencies make when dismissing complaints and claims. Based on data from fiscal years 2009-2012, 57 percent of the reversals of agency dismissals were in cases involving dismissals for failure to state a claim, while 24 percent were in cases involving dismissals for untimely EEO contact.  See Preserving Access to the Legal System: Common Errors by Federal Agencies in Dismissing Complaints of Discrimination on Procedural Grounds.

Fragmentation — the breaking up of a hostile work environment claim into separate and distinct events and claims — is a common cause of these improper dismissals. Although the Commission has tried to correct the issue for years, agencies, unfortunately, continue to fragment claims.

The Commission’s decision in Reita M. v. Department of Transportation, EEOC App. No. 2019001791 (June 4, 2019), provides an example of what fragmentation can look like and why the Commission will ultimately reverse an agency’s dismissal that is a result of fragmentation.  In support of her complaint, the complainant provided 38 pages of incidents of harassment.  From that, the agency identified only two claims, one of disparate treatment based on six events that took place in September-November 2016 and February 2018, and one of harassment based on seven incidents that occurred from June 2015 through April 2018.  The agency then dismissed the disparate treatment claim as untimely, finding that all of the incidents occurred more than 45 days before the complainant contacted a counselor, and dismissed the harassment claim for failure to state a claim because the incidents were sporadic and not sufficiently severe or pervasive. I have seen agencies do this far too many times (most recently a few weeks ago).  It is unsurprising that the Commission reversed the dismissal in the Reita M. case. The agency clearly ignored that the complainant was alleging a pattern of ongoing harassment and instead looked at only a handful events, and then broke them down further into two distinct claims.

If you will permit me to stand on my soapbox for a moment, I cannot say strongly enough that agencies must try harder to avoid fragmenting claims. From the complainant perspective, it incorrectly prevents them from pursuing otherwise valid claims of harassment and results in drawing out an already lengthy process if they file an appeal. From the agency perspective, it “substantially increases case inventories and workloads when it results in the processing of related matters as separate complaints.”  See EEOC Management Directive 110, Ch. 5, § III. If nothing else, you can save yourself the headache of defending an appeal the agency will lose if the agency accepts hostile work environment claims without fragmentation. [email protected]

Create a Healthy Environment for Employees with Mental Disabilities

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By Dan Gephart, August 14, 2019

Two mass shootings earlier this month left America shaken. After the horrific event in El Paso, we went to bed saddened, only to wake to news of similar violence in Dayton. The aftermath of these tragedies is as predictable as the ending of the Titanic movie. Thoughts are shared, prayers are offered, and urgent pleas for gun reform are made. National news trucks set up camp in town, then pack up after the vigils and funerals are held.

At some point during the aftermath, conversation turns to mental health. We need to improve the mental health care system in this country. But when politicians and talking heads discuss mental illness only after a violent event, they reinforce the myth that people with mental health impairments are violent and unpredictable.

Sadly, those myths still infiltrate our workplaces, so I’m using my FELTG soapbox this month to explain what you can do to create a healthy work environment for employees with mental disabilities. If you attended Shana Palmieri’s FELTG webinar, Successfully Managing Federal Employees with Mental Health Disabilities, earlier this year, then this information is not new to you. [If you missed the webinar, I highly suggest you contact us to order a recording.]

It’s not true people with mental illness are unstable employees and more prone to violence. It’s not true people with mental health issues are unable to hold down a job, just as it’s not true personality weakness or character flaws cause mental health problems.

Here are the facts:

  • Only 3-5% violent crimes are committed by people with a mental illness, according to data from Health and Human Services. In fact, statistics show people with mental illness are at least 10 times more likely to be the victim of a crime than the general population.
  • People with mental health impairments are just as productive as other employees.
  • Mental health diagnoses are caused by a combination of biological factors (genes and brain chemistry), life experiences that may include trauma and abuse, and family history.

Why should you care about this? Well, one in five Americans are living or with or have experienced a mental health condition, and mental health problems are the leading cause of disability in the United States, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. So whether you know it or not, you are working alongside a colleague or a supervisor, or managing an employee with a mental health impairment.

Due to the myths and the stigma, as well as the aforementioned lagging health care system, only a third of individuals with mental health issues seek treatment. That’s not good for the workplace, as it leads to the indirect costs of lost productivity and absenteeism. On the flip side, 80 percent of employees who do receive treatment for mental health issues reported improved job satisfaction and improved efficiency.

Creating a healthy workplace environment that is inclusive of individuals with mental health disabilities does not mean getting personally involved in an employee’s life, or taking on the role of a counselor. In fact, that prying is counterproductive. Here’s what a health workplace environment does:

  • It is receptive to employee requests for accommodations, even if that person’s impairment may not be obvious to you. Most accommodations that have been effective for employees with mental disabilities cost very little.
  • It addresses bullying behaviors that create work-related stress and present risks to the mental health of workers. Unchecked bullying leads to reduced productivity and increased staff turnover.
  • It ensures managers and supervisors provide regular honest and constructive feedback to all employees. Strong communication practices benefit all employees.

These actions not only support employees with mental health disabilities, they help all employees, and they make your agency nimbler and more productive. [email protected]

A Two-for-One Removal

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By Deborah Hopkins, August 6, 2019

Here’s a scenario that came across the FELTG desk a few days ago:

Dear FELTG,

Let’s say, hypothetically, an agency has an employee who failed a PIP/demonstration period last week, and the agency is finishing up drafting his proposed removal.

Meanwhile, let’s say the supervisor sent an email to the employee pointing out his failure to submit leave requests as previously instructed and asking him to send them immediately. Instead of sending them, he calls the supervisor and unleashes a tirade – lots of “G-d damn,” “f*!king,” “sh!t,” screaming at the top of his lungs and calling the supervisor names. The supervisor’s door is closed, but the employee is on speakerphone, and people across the hall – also with their office doors closed – hear the tirade and are almost as upset and shocked as the supervisor.

The supervisor wants to do a misconduct removal, and considering the fact that the employee was just suspended for five days for similar inappropriate conduct towards a coworker, that’s probably not unreasonable. Also, the employee still hasn’t submitted those leave requests as instructed. In any event, some kind of discipline is warranted.

What should the agency do with the disciplinary proposal since a performance removal is imminent? Hold one in abeyance while the other is processed? Propose them both at the same time? It might be tempting to just forget about the discipline (since they’re removing the employee anyway), but what if the agency didn’t want to do that?

Sincerely,

Anonymous

 

And here are FELTG’s thoughts on the scenario:

Good to hear from you, Anonymous, and thanks for the hypothetical. This imaginary person has just made your case for removal even stronger.

The agency can issue one proposed removal letter with two sections: one for conduct and one for performance. I would start off with a subject line of Proposed Removal for Misconduct and Unacceptable Performance, and start the letter something like this:

By this letter I am proposing your removal for Conduct Unbecoming [or whatever you call that profanity-laced tirade], AWOL [for the amount of time not covered by a proper leave request], and for unacceptable performance, based on the below:

Then I’d make very clear in the letter where the conduct section starts and ends, and where section for the performance removal starts and ends. In the attachments of materials relied upon, be clear what materials relate to the conduct removal (such as Douglas analysis, any evidence, affidavits, etc.) and which relate to the performance removal (such as failed PIP assignments).

You don’t want to confuse the processes for yourself, or the employee, so you’ll need to be organized in the letter.

Also, if the Deciding Official concurs with removal, you’ll want to split out the decision sections for conduct and performance clearly as well. It would also be wise to include in the decision letter something to the effect of, “Removal is an appropriate penalty for the conduct issue alone, and for the performance issue alone.” Only if it’s true, of course. That way even if for some reason you lost one, you would still have the other one.

As a quick point, in the FELTG world this employee would not have had the chance to be confronted about leave requests and subsequently act disrespectfully to the supervisor the week after he failed the demonstration period (DP). Why, you ask? In our classes, we teach that if it looks like the employee is not going to succeed during the DP, the supervisor can begin to draft the proposed removal letter during the DP, based on the incidents of poor performance, so that the letter can be issued the day after the end of the DP. Immediately after we give the employee the proposed removal, we put the employee out on Notice Leave so he’s no longer in the workplace. That’s the ideal situation, if you are aggressive in your approach. And we like aggressive.

Hope this hypothetical helps. Good luck! [email protected]

The information presented here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Contacting FELTG in any way/format does not create the existence of an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, you should contact an attorney.

And Now Another Word With … Steve Shih

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Portrait of Steve Shih on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

By Dan Gephart, July 30, 2019

Anyone who has ever attended a mediocre leadership training has surely heard the story of the Janitor and the President. Per the legend, President John F. Kennedy was touring NASA in the agency’s early days when he came upon a man sweeping the floor. The president asked him what he was doing. The janitor replied: “Mr. President, I am putting a man on the moon.”

The Janitor and the President is often shared as an example of how a great leader gets buy-in to organizational mission. I imagine that most of you, like me, recognize it as fiction more than reality. The story has more holes than the colander shelf at Bed Bath and Beyond.

What I don’t doubt, however, is the space agency’s amazing success at making all facets of the organization feel a part of the mission, especially when it comes to EEO/Diversity.

Today we pick up our conversation from earlier this month with Steve Shih, NASA’s Associate Administrator of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. (See Part I of the interview here.) Shih and I didn’t discuss the Janitor, President Kennedy, or the Moon Landing. (Happy 50th anniversary NASA!). But Shih did mention the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration (a supersonic flight with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom), the International Space Station, the Parker Solar Probe, and Mars InSight Lander. All these projects are collaborations with academic, commercial and international partners. And they all are projects taken with Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and EEO in mind, according to Shih.

DG: One of NASA’s most publicized goals is the return to the Moon by 2024. How is EEO part of that mission?

SS: D&I and EEO is an enabler for this exciting mission, including in our emphasis on the equitable and inclusive contributions of the entire diversity of NASA’s organizations and workforce, and our historical and inspirational plan to not only land Americans but to also land the first woman on the moon.

Every aspect of this mission from the rocket to the European Service Module, to the Gateway lunar outpost, to the Lunar Lander – will involve NASA’s collaboration and partnership with other sectors and other countries, and the services of our diverse Astronaut corps.

DG: You’ve worked for several agencies. How does agency culture define EEO’s approach, and how would someone go about changing that culture?

SS: Different agencies have different approaches and different strategic emphases on D&I and EEO. As leaders and practitioners in federal agencies, we have a responsibility to help provide leadership on shaping a culture of inclusiveness, fairness, and employee engagement … and to align culture, policies, programs, and personnel management towards mission accomplishment, both in achieving immediate priorities as well as sustainment of effective and efficient services to the American people.

 

At NASA, our leaders and workforce understand the importance of D&I and EEO for mission accomplishment. Our past and most current work provide abundant examples of accomplishments that required inclusive participation and teamwork across NASA and with external partners in other sectors and countries.

 

DG: How does an EEO professional create an environment where employees take EEO training seriously?

SS: Practitioners can best generate support and commitment for D&I and EEO including training, by ensuring D&I and EEO initiatives align to mission and offer value for agencies, organizations, and workforces. A value-added approach fosters an intrinsic motivation by individuals to support training or other programs, whereas a compliance approach (e.g., mandatory requirement) rests on an extrinsic motivation that not only may fail to create genuine commitment, but sometimes can cause resistance and resentment.

DG: In light of the #MeToo movement, what are some things agencies should know about harassment?

SS: Across our country, we’ve learned a great deal about contributing conditions and risk factors for harassment. Research informs us harassers often possess the following qualities: lack of empathy, belief in traditional gender roles, and a tendency toward dominance/authoritarianism, particularly involving power imbalances between individuals.

 

We know more about factors that increase the risk of workplace harassment, including:

  • Homogeneous workforces
  • Workplaces with cultures or social norms that permit or excuse harassment
  • Existence of cultural and language differences
  • Coarsened social discourse outside the workplace
  • Workforces with many young workers
  • Workforces with “high value” or “superstar” employees
  • Workplaces that rely on customer service or client satisfaction
  • Workplaces where work is monotonous or consists of low-intensity tasks
  • Isolated workspaces
  • Workplaces with cultures that tolerate or encourage alcohol consumption
  • Decentralized workplaces

The EEOC has consistently provided outstanding leadership on the issue of harassment. Most recently, EEOC led a task force to study harassment and subsequently issued a June 2016 Report of the Co-Chairs of the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, and resources for employers to proactively prevent and to promptly correct harassment. The EEOC has issued many guidance documents on harassment. Additionally, EEOC’s “Model Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program” Management Directive 715is extremely helpful for agencies to establish and maintain strong policies and programs for EEO, including for anti-harassment.

[email protected]

We Don’t Need Civil Service Reform, Part I

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By Deborah Hopkins, July 17, 2019

Yes, you read that title correctly. Despite what you hear and read in the media and from politicians who don’t know our business, We Don’t Need Civil Service Reform. The system is not broken. We just need federal supervisors to use the tools the law has made available for the past 40 years. And we just need advisors to counsel the supervisors about how the system works, and to support them through the process.

Here are a few things it’s important to know:

  • Holding employees accountable is not as difficult as you think it is.
  • Holding employees accountable is not as time-consuming as you think it is.
  • Holding employees accountable does not take as much evidence as you think it does.

In a three-part series of articles this summer, I will explain each of the above statements in detail, starting with the first.

Holding employees accountable is not as difficult as you think it is.

In our FELTG training classes, we present the conduct and performance accountability tools in checklist order. The checklists are easy to follow, make it easy to confirm you have the evidence you need, and make it easy to verify that you aren’t missing an important legal requirement and as a result jeopardizing your case. We spend time in our seminars going through each step, citing to relevant statutes, regulations, case law, and best practices, to be sure the process and requirements are absolutely clear, and to help ensure your case is defensible.

In DISCIPLINE cases, the checklist looks like this:

  1. Is there a reasonable rule in place?
  2. Did the employee have notice of the rule?
  3. Do you have proof the employee violated the rule?
  4. Can you defend your penalty?
  5. Did you provide the employee due process?

Do NOT jump to step 4 and choose a penalty if you don’t have steps 1-3 covered. If you do you will lose your case. It really IS that simple.

In PERFORMANCE cases, the checklist looks like this:

  1. Has the employee been issued a performance plan with legally sufficient critical elements identified?
  2. Has the employee been given a warm-up period to get used to the performance standards?
  3. Can you articulate why the employee is performing at an unacceptable level on at least one critical element?
  4. Did you give the employee an opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance?
  5. Did you provide the employee legally-required assistance during the demonstration period?
  6. Do you have documentation the employee did not perform acceptably during the demonstration period?
  7. If the employee was not successful during the demonstration period, did you provide the employee due process?

Same thing here, don’t jump to step 4 and initiate a demonstration period (what we used to call a PIP) if you haven’t met the requirements of steps 1-3 first. If you do you will lose your case. It really IS that simple.

Let me say it again. It really is that simple.

You’ll have to come to our classes to get the full details on how to implement these checklists, and what is required for each step, but I promise it will be well worth your time. Do not believe what you read or hear in the media about how it is too difficult to deal with problem employees. Do not buy into the idea that civil service protections need to be stripped away to make the government a more efficient place. Do not look at the one case where a bad employee got her job back because of a procedural issue and think that you have no chance of getting your own action to stick; if you are on the management side, the odds are strongly in your favor that you will win your case.

Join us next time for Part II, where we discuss how holding employees accountable is not as time-consuming as you think it is. In fact, if you’ve got a problem employee, there’s a good chance you can have them off your payroll before the end of the summer. Stay tuned. [email protected]

The Good News: It’s Perfectly Legal to Talk to Your Employees — and it Can Net Results!

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By Ann Boehm, July 17, 2019

Our friends at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Office of Policy and Evaluation recently released a research brief called Remedying Unacceptable Performance in the Federal Civil Service. It’s nice to know the MSPB is functioning, even without any Board members (yep, we are still waiting on Senate confirmation of the President’s three Board nominees).

The brief’s top recommendation for handling poor performance is to “hire the right people.”  Gee, thanks for that advice. Just in case your crystal ball isn’t always working properly and you aren’t always able to hire the right people, here’s the big takeaway from the rest of the research brief (and based on my own years of experience): Talking to employees works.

In case you feel like you’ve tried everything with problem employees, don’t despair. You’re not alone. Apparently, three fourths of the supervisors surveyed reported taking 10 (!) different approaches to deal with poor-performing employees. “Houston, we have a problem.”  (OK, I know that’s a movie quote and not the historically accurate statement. You get my point.) Supervisors need to figure out a more efficient way to handle poor performers.

The brief states “supervisory support has a relationship to the quality of an employee’s performance, with the most supportive supervisors tending to have the best performers.”  Easy enough.

Here’s what you have to do to be supportive – talk to your employees (are you catching on to my theme?)  And it’s perfectly legal to do so.  Believe it or not, at a training session I recently conducted, supervisors had been instructed by human resources professionals not to talk to their employees about performance. They were told it could lead to litigation. Um, so can getting a scalding cup of coffee at the McDonald’s drive through, potentially. That’s just lame and incorrect advice!

If you aren’t sold yet, read this line from a footnote in the MSPB research brief. “Employees who agreed that they feel comfortable talking to their supervisors about doing the things that matter to them at work and that their supervisor supports their need to balance work and family were more likely than others to report:  (1) engaging in strong performance behaviors; and (2) that their performance had been rated at the highest level in their appraisal system.”

That’s so powerful, you may want to reread it!

Here are some other things that the brief found effective: monitoring the employee’s work by providing feedback and coaching; communicating; providing guidance on expectations; and discussing possible negative consequences. On this last point – discussing possible negative consequences – I can already hear the lawyers advising, “Don’t do that.  They may sue you.”  Oh, please. It’s not illegal to tell an employee he or she has to do the job correctly or he/she could lose it. In fact, you owe it to the employee. According to the folks at the MSPB, it works.

My friends, I know you’re busy people.  I know you don’t get paid extra for being supervisors.  But help yourselves and your organizations. Take the time to talk to your employees – the good ones and, more importantly, the struggling ones. It’s legal. It’s effective.

Let me know if you have any success or new insights. You could end up in The Good News! [email protected]

Performance Standards and Reasonable Accommodation

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By Barbara Haga, July 17, 2019

I do a lot of training with managers on performance management and performance appraisal system requirements. That includes discussions of performance failures and how to hold employees accountable. It seems that many don’t have a good grasp of the difference between a reasonable accommodation and an unreasonable one.  When I talk about lowering performance standards not being a reasonable accommodation, they seem to be surprised by that.

The scary part of this is that based on what I see in classes, managers may be doing this informally in many situations without ever raising a question to the appropriate EEO/HR/Legal staff as to whether it is required. If you sampled performance narratives, I think you will find things such as “For this rating period, the employee was not required to meet the standard of 19 widgets a month, but was required to make 12” or “The employee’s assignments were limited to one portion of the process for this rating period,” or “The employee’s assignments included only XXX types of cases for this rating period.” These are all indications that someone is adjusting requirements for some reason. The next step should be talking with the manager to find out what the reason was – and whether a question regarding reasonable accommodation is part of it.

What needs to happen to make sure managers can distinguish between when they are required to accommodate and when they are not? Education would be the obvious answer.  That could include incorporating this kind of information into performance training, or it could be as simple as a short briefing included as part of a staff meeting for managers.

The EEOC’s guidance on applying performance and conduct standards to employees with disabilities is a helpful place to start. It is entitled The Americans With Disabilities Act: Applying Performance And Conduct Standards To Employees With Disabilities.  The document includes numerous scenarios regarding when accommodation is required that cover private, state and local government, and Federal employees. Kudos to the EEOC for keeping the document updated and posting the date of the last revision.  (Certainly would be nice if OPM adopted that practice for their fact sheets and other guidance documents they have posted, but I digress).

What important points did the EEOC make?  (Section III.a)

1) An employer should apply the same quantitative and qualitative requirements for performance of essential functions to an employee with a disability that it applies to employees without disabilities.

Lowering production standards or eliminating requirements for essential functions is not required as an accommodation.  The point of accommodation is to remedy the situation so that the disabled employee can perform at the same level as any other employees in the job. Eliminating essential functions, of course is not a reasonable accommodation, but taking out marginal functions is a possible accommodation.

The first example provided in the guidance is that of a Federal employee who cannot meet a performance standard:

Example 1: A federal agency requires all of its investigators to complete 30 investigations per year in addition to other responsibilities. Jody’s disability is worsening, causing her increased difficulty in completing 30 investigations while also conducting training and writing articles for a newsletter. Jody tells her supervisor about her disability and requests that she be allowed to eliminate the marginal functions of her job so that she can focus on performing investigations. After determining that conducting trainings and writing articles are marginal functions for Jody and that no undue hardship exists, the agency reassigns Jody’s marginal functions as a reasonable accommodation.

In this example, the agency was able to accommodate the situation because the essential function could be performed at the required level by allowing use of time that would have been spent on the marginal tasks. However, if there wasn’t significant additional time that could be gleaned from other assignments or Jody was not able to complete the number of investigations required for medical reasons, or if those trainings/articles were deemed essential, she would not have been entitled to this accommodation.

The second example covers additional work requirements beyond what the employee is presently required to do. This scenario involves a private sector employee, but I am sure we have all encountered situations where new requirements were added to positions. (Look at the article I wrote in March on conditions of employment related to a computer specialist who had to meet new certification requirements.)

Example 2: Robert is a sales associate for a pharmaceutical company. His territory covers a 3-state region and he must travel to each state three times a year. Due to staff cutbacks, the company is increasing the number of states for each salesperson from three to five. Robert explains to his manager that due to his disability he cannot handle the extra two states and the increased traveling, and he asks that he be allowed to have responsibility only for his original three states. The company may refuse this request for accommodation because it conflicts with the new production standard. However, the company should explore with Robert whether there is any reasonable accommodation that could enable him to service five states, and if not, whether reassignment is possible.

I think many managers might feel in this situation that it would be a legitimate decision not to require Robert to perform over the same area as other employees because of his disability, when the answer is actually quite different.

The third example involves a computer specialist and a PIP.

Example 3: A computer programmer with a known disability has missed deadlines for projects, necessitating that other employees finish his work. Further, the employee has not kept abreast of changes in the database package, causing him to misinterpret as system problems changes that he should have known about. The employee is placed on a Performance Improvement Plan, but his performance does not improve and he is terminated. At no time does the employee request a reasonable accommodation (i.e., inform the employer that he requires an adjustment or change as a result of a medical condition). The termination is justified as long as the employer holds the employee to the same performance standards as other programmers.

In this example, management took the appropriate step to place the employee in the demonstration period because the work was not being accomplished at the required level, even though they knew the employee had a disability. I believe that there are likely many situations where management would accept the less than acceptable work because they felt they had no alternative but to do so.

The current administration has sent lots of signals about the need for accountability in performance management.  Based on what I have seen, this is an area where managers need some help to ensure that accountability is maintained appropriately.