March 2020 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
Life in the Time of Coronavirus
Unless you’ve been without Wi-Fi or cable for the last two months, you’ve heard of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Last week, the World Health Organization categorized the virus as a global pandemic, disrupting normal life in the US, and around the world.
FELTG is staying on top of recommendations from the health experts, and because safety is priority, our in-person classroom training is postponed for the next 30 days. We promise to keep you posted, in the newsletter and on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In the meantime, we are announcing the FELTG Virtual Training Institute’s first-ever live training event, Emerging Issues in Federal Employment Law, April 21-23, and you can attend from wherever you are, agency office or home, from your government computer or personal device. This three-day event includes sessions from your favorite instructors on current issues that don’t go away even during a global pandemic. Join us for one session, or attend them all.
FELTG also has a number of upcoming webinars, which teleworkers can attend from home, and we are also available to provide webinars to specific agencies, on any of our training topics, as an alternative to traditional onsite training.
In this month’s newsletter, we tackle generic performance standards, leave myths, improper medical inquiries, investigations, and more.
Take care out there,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
Managing the Workplace During the Coronavirus Pandemic
By Dan Gephart, March 19, 2020 First, it was the guidance from the Office of Personnel Management less than two weeks ago. And then as last week ended, the White House recommended that agencies ensure continuity of operations and keep their employees safe by expanding...
Generic Standards that Fail to Measure Performance Effectively
By Barbara Haga, March 19, 2020 I’ve written about conduct issues making it into performance plans when those matters should be dealt with through other means, but there are other problems that we should address. This month, I’ll address generic standards. I am not...
Do You Believe These Myths About Leave?
By Deborah Hopkins, March 19, 2020 If you are part of the FELTG Nation, you probably already know that federal employees have significant rights to various types of leave. In fact, starting this fall, most will receive even more leave entitlements, in the form of paid...
Supervisor Survival Series: Let the Whistle Blow
Monthly Observations, Guidance, Tools, and Tips to Make Your Job Easier March 19, 2020 Over the past few months, we have seen an uptick in media coverage about federal employees who blow the whistle, then accuse the agency of illegal reprisal in the wake of the...
The Good News – Investigations are the Fun Part!
By Ann Boehm, March 19, 2020 Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last 30 years, chances are that at some point you have watched an episode of Law and Order. (And if you haven’t seen an episode, I’m pretty sure there’s one playing on some channel at this...
You and What Army?
By Meghan Droste, March 19, 2020 Way back in January 2018, which feels like a lifetime ago at a time when every day brings at least 20 urgent news alerts and many more times as many things to worry about, I wrote my first article for this newsletter. I discussed the...
More on Probationers: FELTG Answers Your Follow-Up Questions
By Deborah Hopkins, March 19, 2020 In a recent newsletter, I discussed the differences between initial appointment probationary periods and supervisory probationary periods. As a result of this discussion, FELTG received some follow-up questions, including requests...
Tips from the Other Side: March 2020
By Meghan Droste, March 19, 2020 I imagine many of you are spending fair amount of time right now refreshing your online news source of choice for updates on COVID-19. There’s no doubt that this is a stressful and possibly scary time, with a lot of unknowns about how...