December 2016 Federal Employment Law Training Newsletter
Here Comes the Cold
Oh, those dreaded words: Hiring Freeze. We often hear them around the time we get a new administration, and we’re hearing them this month. Everyone knows that hiring freezes are bad for government. The positions that become vacant during a hiring freeze may be the very most important positions in the agency. You are handed a random vacancy because of the vagaries about people leaving government, and sometimes you are left with poor performing employees who really should be the ones to go, but you’re afraid to fire them because bad help is better than no help at all. The bean counters are happy, but that’s about it. But let me share a moment with you. Years ago, after I had helped a manager fire a poorly performing toxic employee, I called her to see how things were going. “Oh, just terrific!” she said. “Our office productivity has gone up 50% in six months!” I told her that was fantastic and asked who she had hired to replace the faulty worker. “Oh, I didn’t hire anybody to fill the position. Once the toxic employee was out of the office, everybody started working better and harder. You see, she was bringing the whole place down just by coming to work every day.” Here at FELTG, we hope you never have to fire anybody. But if you do, keep this thought in mind: Sometimes things get better just by removing the problem employee, even if you don’t hire a replacement.
Stay warm out there –
Bill Wiley, FELTG President
The Changes are Beginning
By William Wiley, December 14, 2016 We've been predicting it here at FELTG for nearly a year. Congress and the in-coming administration are fed up with what they believe are glitches in our civil service system, which require that bad federal employees be coddled and...
EEOC Issues its Own Performance Evaluation for 2016
By Deryn Sumner, December 14, 2016 The end of the year is a good time for reflection. What went well, what could have gone better, and how can we turn what we learned in 2016 into lessons learned so we can do better in 2017? Since Gary Gilbert started the Firm where...
Civil Service Reform and Probation
By Barbara Haga, December 14, 2016 I am taking advantage of this FELTG vehicle to share some thoughts that the new administration might take into account in making decisions about what sort of reform might improve the civil service system. Lots of people are doing...
Whoa, Doggies; This is a Bad One
By William Wiley, December 14, 2016 I love the law. I adore justice. But sometimes I think that judges who interpret the law and thereby dispense justice need to spend a bit more time in the real world before they issue decisions that affect the real world. Issue in...
Your Life Just Got Better (and Maybe Longer)
By William Wiley, December 14, 2016 Earlier in this newsletter, we explained how the recently enacted “Administrative Leave Act of 2016” limits the length of time that an agency can keep an employee on paid leave while an investigation is being conducted. We also...
EEOC Understands the Problems Agencies Can Have Implementing Decisions
By Deryn Sumner, December 14, 2016 I know firsthand the frustration agency representatives can experience when they are being asked about when a payment under a settlement agreement or administrative judge’s order will be made, and they can’t give a clear answer,...
EEO Complaint-ing a PIP? No Dice.
By Deborah Hopkins, December 14, 2016 A couple of weeks ago, Bill and I held a brand-new training class in Atlanta: Developing and Defending Discipline (next coming to San Diego February 28 – March 2). One of the questions that came up was a question we get...
EEOC Issues Updated Enforcement Guidance Regarding National Origin Discrimination
By Deryn Sumner, December 14, 2016 The EEOC issues guidance on various topics related to discrimination, including harassment, use of arrest and conviction records in employment, and disability discrimination. As Supreme Court cases and new laws change the landscape...