Inspector General News
What you should know about the happenings in the IG community.No Need to Cringe: Make Strategic Planning Your Friend
By Scott Boehm, December 6, 2022 Every office is required to develop a strategic plan. Yet, when most people hear the words “strategic planning,” they tend to cringe. I felt the same way in 2005 when our staff conducted its first strategic planning process. I didn't...
EEO Reprisal is (Unfortunately) Alive and Well
By Deborah J. Hopkins, November 15, 2022 Reprisal, or retaliation, is alleged in about half of all EEO complaints. It is the most common basis of discrimination in findings against agencies. Let’s look at a few situations where the EEOC has issued findings of EEO...
‘Government Careers are Retirement Schemes for the Incompetent’
By William Wiley, October 18, 2022 Oh, did you like that one? Well, how about this: “Federal employment is basically welfare with an attendance requirement, but not a very strict one.” Are you offended yet? No? Well you just might be if you read any more of the...
Employees Can Be AWOL Even if at Work or Working Elsewhere
By Dan Gephart, September 12, 2022 Only six percent of American workers who have been teleworking since the pandemic began want to return to the physical workplace, according to a recent poll. You know that there are more than a handful of people at your agency who...
EEOC Case Illustrates the Ugliness of Harassment Based on Disability
By Deborah Hopkins, September 12, 2022 Members of the FELTG Nation are likely familiar with EEO cases where agencies fail to accommodate a complainant’s disability, but there’s another ugly side of disability discrimination that sometimes arises – hostile work...
Confidentially Speaking: Legitimate Reason Needed to Request Medical Info
By Michael Rhoads, September 12, 2022 Think of a personal secret you’ve been keeping. Now imagine that, as part of an investigation, you must divulge that secret. You assume that the investigators will keep the secret confidential, only to find out that personal...
This Isn’t Harassment: Supervision, Not Hostile Work Environment
By Deborah Hopkins, August 16, 2022 One of the topics we’ve been discussing in recent FELTG classes is “other harassment,” that is, harassment that’s not based on protected EEO categories. And one of the most common questions we’re asked is this: At what point a...
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...
Don’t Ignore the Reasonable Accommodation Framework: Basic Mistakes Can Cost Dearly
By Deborah Hopkins, June 27, 2022 The reasonable accommodation process is an entitlement that every Federal employee has a right to pursue, regardless of the job. A recent EEO case, which originated back in 2010, caught my attention. The case involved 10 complainants...