The civil service world is changing and it’s important to be aware of the new laws and executive orders that apply to you. MSPB Law Week covers the basics of disciplinary charges and penalties, plus understanding the law and strategy in handling performance cases and defending against whistleblower reprisal complaints. Join top MSPB practitioners and topic authors, and learn the law, strategies, and techniques from their many years of combined experience.
With the existing backlog of over 2,000 PFRs at MSPB right now, it’s more important than ever to handle your case correctly on the front end. While the specific details about the future of the Merit Systems Protection Board remain uncertain, FELTG’s instructors are staying on top of the situation and will provide attendees with all the information they need to know.
The program runs 8:30 – 4:00 each day and is pre-approved for 29 CLE credits in Virginia and California. It is also approved for 29 HRCI general recertification credits.
Instructors
William Wiley, Deborah Hopkins
Daily Agenda
Monday
Adverse Actions: Statutory basis including the Civil Service Reform Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, the five elements of every disciplinary case and the burdens of proof, the fundamentals of penalty selection and defense, obtaining testimony to protect the penalty selection should one or more charges fail, types of evidence necessary to support a penalty selection, the MSPB’s power to mitigate a penalty and recent trends in the Board’s use of that authority, educating uninformed arbitrators, using alternatives to discipline.
Tuesday
Charges: Types of charges, parts of a charge, how charges are interpreted, the role of the proposing and deciding officials, capitalizing on the general charge, allowing the inclusion of lesser-included offenses, charging in the alternative, attractive options to difficult charges and common charging mistakes, proving the difficult “intent” charge element, a step by step approach to charge drafting.
Wednesday
Penalties: MSPB and Federal Circuit lead cases in penalty determination, getting “intent” penalties off of “non-intent” charges, proving harsh penalties off of vanilla charges, charging down and proving up, how the maximum penalty is established, an update of recent Board and court decisions: what’s really new and what’s old wine in new bottles, placing the emphasis on notice, the Board’s lack of a quorum, penalty mitigation changes.
Thursday
Unacceptable Performance: Performance actions in perspective, drafting a defensible performance standard, implementing PIP’s, defeating the PIP rollercoaster, accommodating disability-related poor performance, converting an unacceptable performance problem into a Part 752 disciplinary action, termination based on failing a performance quiz.
Friday
Defending Against Whistleblower Reprisal Claims and other Affirmative Defenses: Whistleblower claims: protected disclosures and whistleblower reprisal, claims of harmful error, reprisal for union activity, excessive penalty findings.
Pricing
Most people attend the full training week, but you may opt out of any days you don’t plan to attend.
Early Bird Tuition (register by May 20):
- 5 days = $2370
- 4 days = $1960
- 3 days = $1550
- 2 days = $1140
- 1 day = $680
Standard Tuition (register May 21 – June 7):
- 5 days = $2470
- 4 days = $2060
- 3 days = $1650
- 2 days = $1240
- 1 day = $780
Seminar registration includes a copy of the textbook UnCivil Servant: Holding Employees Accountable for Performance and Conduct, 4th ed., by Wiley and Hopkins.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Deborah Hopkins, Meghan Droste
Course Description
Legal writing in federal sector employment law is a specialized craft. Cases have been lost because of poorly or ambiguously written documents. This webinar series will help you sharpen the skills you need to produce effective, defensible, legally sound documents in the federal sector. This includes disciplinary letters, summary judgment motions, reports of investigation, and more. With the sample language, templates and documents provided during the webinars, you’ll have tools use can continue to use long after the series ends.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to law school recently, or ever at all. Spend an hour a week with FELTG and you’ll find the way to make the documents you write be more clear, effective, and persuasive.
- January 16 – Legal Writing for the MSPB, EEOC and FLRA: Nuts and Bolts
- January 23 – Writing Performance Demonstration Period Plans that Work
- January 30 – Framing Charges and Drafting Proposed Discipline
- February 6 – The Douglas Factor Analysis and Writing the Decision
- February 13 – Writing Effective Motions for Summary Judgment
- February 20 – Drafting a Legally Sufficient Report of Investigation
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site (payment made by January 13).
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site (payment made January 14 or later).
- Register for all six webinars by January 13 and pay only $1350!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructor
Series Description
Join FELTG Instructor Joe Schimansky for this two-part webinar series on the timely and challenging federal labor relation topics your agency is facing. A new era of federal LR was ushered in with President Trump’s three executive orders, which cleared court review in 2019. Mr. Schimansky will explain how the EOs and FLRA case law have changed negotiations over the past few months, and he’ll share new bargaining strategies that have emerged in the current climate.
But first, the webinar series will kick off with an explanation of the union’s right to be involved in discussions. You’ll learn when meetings become formal discussions or Weingarten meetings, and what to do when an employee requests union representation.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
- September 3, 2020 – Meeting Your Responsibility When Discussions Become Formal: Union rights and responsibilities; management obligations; what a union rep can and cannot do during a formal discussion; what constitutes a reasonable belief the discipline may occur; EEO-related meetings.
- September 17, 2020 – The Changing World of Federal Sector Negotiations: Bargaining obligations; status quo; permissive bargaining; conditions of employment vs. working conditions; the Trump Executive Orders; three categories of bargaining
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site, per webinar (payment required by August 24)
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site, per webinar (payments made August 24-September 17)
- Register for both webinars by August 24 and pay only $470!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.
Instructor
Series Description
Join FELTG Instructor Joe Schimansky for this two-part webinar series on the timely and challenging federal labor relation topics your agency is facing. A new era of federal LR was ushered in with President Trump’s three executive orders, which cleared court review in 2019. Mr. Schimansky will explain how the EOs and FLRA case law have changed negotiations over the past few months, and he’ll share new bargaining strategies that have emerged in the current climate.
But first, the webinar series will kick off with an explanation of the union’s right to be involved in discussions. You’ll learn when meetings become formal discussions or Weingarten meetings, and what to do when an employee requests union representation.
Sessions will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
- September 3, 2020 – Meeting Your Responsibility When Discussions Become Formal: Union rights and responsibilities; management obligations; what a union rep can and cannot do during a formal discussion; what constitutes a reasonable belief the discipline may occur; EEO-related meetings.
- September 17, 2020 – The Changing World of Federal Sector Negotiations: Bargaining obligations; status quo; permissive bargaining; conditions of employment vs. working conditions; the Trump Executive Orders; three categories of bargaining
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: $240 per site, per webinar (payment required by August 24)
- Standard Tuition: $270 per site, per webinar (payments made August 24-September 17)
- Register for both webinars by August 24 and pay only $470!
Teleworkers may be added to a main site registration for $40 per teleworker, on a space-available basis.