July 2022 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
Returning to the Physical Workplace May Be a Morale-Buster for Many
Last week, FELTG held its first in-person open enrollment training since March 2020. While we’ve done a few onsite classes for agencies over the past two years, most of us have been stuck in Zoomland on days of the week that end in -y. (That said, thank goodness for Zoom.)
We had some interesting (face-to-face!) discussions last week about how the return to the workplace transition was going at various agencies. And it turns out that a LOT of employees don’t want to report back at all because they’ve been successfully doing their jobs from home for the last two years.
Return to the workplace requirements are drastically impacting things like employee morale, retention, and more. We’ll keep you posted as we learn what agencies can better do to prepare for Navigating the Return to the Post-pandemic Federal Workplace.
In this month’s newsletter, we discuss whistleblowing, post-Santos guidance, pronoun use, and much more.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
The Good News: New MSPB’s Recent Whistleblower Decision Makes a Lot of Sense
By Ann Boehm, July 18, 2022 The new, fully constituted three-member MSPB (HOORAY!) sure surprised the heck out of me with its recent decision in Skarada v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2022 MSPB 17 (2022). Skarada filed an Individual Right of Action appeal claiming...
She/Her/Hers, He/Him/His, They/Them/Theirs: Pronouns in 2022
By Deborah Hopkins, July 18, 2022 There are many polarizing topics (abortion, gun control, COVID-19 vaccines, political affiliation) in this country. We’re going to address another topic that generates feelings almost as strongly in certain circles: pronoun use and...
Supervisors Should Learn to Recognize Signs of Suicidal Ideation
By Michael Rhoads, July 18, 2022 For far too long, mental health services have carried a stigma. It’s important to know where to turn when you’re experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal ideation. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline came online last week,...
Post-Santos: Timing, Precedents, Retroactivity in Performance Cases
By Deborah Hopkins, July 18, 2022 Most Federal employment law practitioners remember the day last year when the Federal Circuit issued Santos v. NASA. It set a new requirement for agencies to provide substantial evidence of unacceptable performance before implementing...
No BS: Prepare Your Agency for Possible BA.5 Wave
By Dan Gephart, July 18, 2022 Folks, it ain’t over yet. Forget the crowds of unmasked frolickers you’ve seen on your summer adventures or the lack of above-the-fold headlines about death rates or hospitalizations. COVID is still very real. And there’s a chance we are...
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...