August 2022 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
What Do Dating, Diarrhea, Due Process Have in Common?
They are all topics the MSPB has recently looked at. (Pardon the alliteration.) Did you know:
- If an Administrative Judge is in a romantic relationship with an appellant’s co-worker, that’s a conflict of interest, especially if there’s evidence the co-worker really doesn’t like the appellant.
- If someone drives a GOV home one mile to clean up and change clothes after an unfortunate bout of diarrhea, that’s not Misuse of a GOV.
- Not giving an appellant an oral reply isn’t always a due process violation.
We’ve got a lot more lessons from the new MSPB, which we’ll be discussing during one of FELTG’s most popular programs, MSPB Law Week, September 12-16 – and during our August 31 case law update.
We have more than just MSPB news this month. The newsletter discusses whether you can discipline a union rep who is on official time, non-EEO harassment, disability misconceptions, and more.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
The Good News: 100% Official Time Does Not Excuse Misconduct!
By Ann Boehm, August 16, 2022 This administration is decidedly pro-union. The FLRA has two Democrats and one Republican on the Authority. There may be a perception that unions are untouchable in this environment, but that is just plain wrong. A recent decision from...
This Isn’t Harassment: Supervision, Not Hostile Work Environment
By Deborah Hopkins, August 16, 2022 One of the topics we’ve been discussing in recent FELTG classes is “other harassment,” that is, harassment that’s not based on protected EEO categories. And one of the most common questions we’re asked is this: At what point a...
Is This the New MSPB’s First Problematic Decision?
By William Wiley, August 16, 2022 In the humble opinion of this old Board observer, President Biden’s recent appointees to be members of the US Merit Systems Protection Board have done a very good job with the content of the rulings they have handed down since...
Sometimes Things Just Aren’t as They Seem
By Dan Gephart, August 16, 2022 If you’re a Federal supervisor and you see your name in the Washington Post, chances are it’s not going to be a positive experience. And that was certainly the case for the high-ranking senior government official whose demeanor and...
Who Wrote that Rule? Notification is 2nd Element of Discipline
By Michael Rhoads, August 16, 2022 Here at FELTG, we teach that there are five Elements of Discipline when a supervisor needs to prove an employee committed a misconduct. The second element deals with what you as a supervisor/ER/LR/HR Specialist can do to pro-actively...
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...