September 2020 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
Change Like We’ve Never Seen
“Change is in the air.” We usually say that every September, as kids go back to school and the weather turns cooler. But this year, most kids are not back in school, and at least here in Washington, DC, where I live, we still have summer weather.
That’s not to say change hasn’t happened. The changes we’ve all endured over the past several months have been shocking, and if you would have told me last year that the following things would be normal in the late summer of 2020, I wouldn’t have believed you:
- It’s perfectly typical – and in fact, required – to wear a mask over your face when you go into a liquor store;
- Avoiding people on the sidewalk by stepping into the street is the polite, and not rude, thing to do; and
- You can attend MSPB Law Week or other training classes virtually and still have an amazing training experience.
Change can be uncomfortable, and it may take some time to adapt, but even when things are hard there can be some positives along with it. And life continues, even though it looks different than we might have expected. In this month’s newsletter, we discuss why reprimands save you money, how to deal with conflicted EEO cases, and much more.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
Good News – Letters of Reprimand Save You Time and Money
By Ann Boehm, September 16, 2020 I left the government in 2018, I spent a short time working in sales. In nearly every training session or staff meeting I attended, we were told to make sure the potential client knows your goal is to save them time and money. It makes...
What Dave Wants, Dave Gets: Sexual Harassment is Misconduct
By Deborah Hopkins, September 16, 2020 We discuss misconduct a lot during some FELTG training classes. And in other classes, we discuss sexual harassment in the workplace. Sometimes these two matters are discussed in the same class because rarely do workplace issues...
EEOC Provides Guidance on Processing Conflict Cases
By Meghan Droste, September 16, 2020 "Today everything’s a conflict of interest.” Sid Vicious’ words are more than 40 years old, but they do seem appropriate these days. While issues of conflicts of interest have been in the news for the past few months and years,...
Flexing Schedules to Help Employees Meet Child Care Needs
By Michael Rhoads, September 16, 2020 The coronavirus has forced everyone to rethink how our society functions. One of the most difficult functions to overcome for me and my peers who have young children has been how to manage childcare while both parents still work...
Tips from the Other Side: No ‘One Size Fits All’ for Accommodations
By Meghan Droste, September 16, 2020 This month, I return to our ongoing review of important issues related to reasonable accommodation requests. Unfortunately, I have seen agencies too often make very avoidable mistakes when it comes to responding to requests for...
One Decision – A Lot of Lessons, Including the Power of Accepting Guilt
By Barbara Haga, September 16, 2020 Sometimes you pick up a case that is just chock full of good information. That happened when the case of Lee v. Federal Aviation Administration, No. 2019 -1790 (Fed. Cir. July 29, 2020) appeared in a recent weekly MSPB case report....
You’re Communicating a Message: Can Your Employees Understand?
By Dan Gephart, September 16, 2020 Let Your Light Shine As the pandemic reached its fourth month, a friend from Ohio sent us a package -- sticky letters spelling out the aforementioned message that would beam hope and inspiration, once affixed to our fridge. Even...