March 2019 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
Putting the ‘Civil’ in Civil Servant
If you follow the news, you probably agree there doesn’t seem to be much civility in Washington, DC – or really the country – right now. Congress is engaged in an uncivil civil war, and the American people, especially federal employees, are stuck in the middle.
FELTG readers are probably familiar with our signature class UnCivil Servant: Holding Federal Employees Accountable for Performance and Conduct, created by the one and only Bill Wiley. It’s a program that empowers federal supervisors to take the legal steps to get their employees to do their jobs, or else move on.
Well, FELTG now has a class that presents the opposite side of UnCivil Servant, and it’s targeted specifically to federal employees: The Civil Civil Servant: Protections, Performance, and Conduct. It provides federal employees with an understanding of their rights and responsibilities under the law, and challenges them to be more engaged and effective employees. Engaged employees are less likely to cause their supervisors or HR offices the time- and energy-consuming drama that is not only costly, but serves as a roadblock to agency mission. Check out all the details here.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
How I Became a Zen Master of Civil Service Law
By William Wiley, March 13, 2019 Way back in the early ’80s, when I was just a GS-12 ER puppy working for Navy, a brand new MSPB board member named Dennis Devaney spoke at a conference I had helped pull together. In his speech, he announced that the Board was about to...
Cook-ing a Sick Employee
By Deborah Hopkins, March 13, 2019 A few days ago I got a nice note from a FELTG customer, who had a question about an employee with excessive absences. Allow me to paraphrase a snippet that you might find interesting. I recall learning in one of your courses that a...
I Wanna Be in the Room Where It Happens
By Meghan Droste, March 13, 2019 As someone who is, shall we say, mildly obsessed with the musical Hamilton, I have to admit that I’m amazed that it took me over a year of writing these articles to work in a reference. We had to wait for it (that’s my favorite song so...
Cases Based on Failure to Meet a Condition of Employment
By Barbara Haga, March 13, 2019 In training classes on developing performance plans, I am often asked about putting language into standards that state employees are required to complete training or obtain necessary certifications. My response is that typically those...
The Good News: Ruby Slippers from President Trump
By Ann Boehm, March 13, 2019 I love The Wizard of Oz (spoiler alert – this article will be discussing key moments in this movie, so if you have not seen it, I suggest you do so before reading more). In my youth, it came on television once a year. There were no...
Tips from the Other Side
By Meghan Droste, March 13, 2019 Our discussion of tips to make the discovery process more efficient continues this month with a topic that is near and dear to me—in other words, something that drives me crazy on a regular basis; something that counsel for agencies...
Work Now, Grieve Later, and Avoid Having to Testify Before Congress
By Dan Gephart, March 13, 2019 Two weeks ago, nearly 16 million people watched Michael Cohen tell the House Oversight Committee about the many illegal, unethical, disreputable, and downright nasty things that he did at his boss’s direction. Whether you believe the...