March 2024 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
A Statistic We Can All Get Behind
Did you happen to catch the recent Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) report that Federal whistleblower reprisal complaints are down more than 40% in the past 5 years? The drop in complaints could, of course, correlate to the increase in telework during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the PEER report also notes that employees’ satisfaction in their agencies has increased, and satisfied employees file fewer complaints.
While it’s excellent news that complaints are down, whistleblower reprisal is an important topic, and your agency does not want to be on the losing end of one of these complaints. FELTG Instructor Bob Woods will discuss this in detail during next month’s MSPB Law Week, April 15-19.
In this month’s newsletter, we discuss intentional discrimination claims related to St. Patrick’s Day, questions and answers about misconduct investigations, vague performance standards, the Douglas factors, and when harassment leads to workers’ comp claims.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
Luck of the Irish? Not in These Findings of No Discrimination
By Deborah J. Hopkins, March 11, 2024 Just about every week, FELTG instructors talk to supervisors who are concerned about, and even afraid of, EEO complaints being filed against them. We tell them that while the fear is real, the majority of EEO complaints result in...
Good News: We Answer Your Questions About Misconduct Investigations
By Ann Boehm, March 11, 2024 If you have ever taken an investigations course taught by me, you have likely heard me say that investigations training is my favorite class. I know I shouldn’t have favorite classes, but I have a good reason for this favoritism. In my...
Use These Tips to Improve Your Douglas Factor Analysis
By Dan Gephart, March 11, 2024 With the constant changes in Federal employment law over the last several years, it’s sometimes easy to forget not only how useful the Douglas factors are when determining a reasonable penalty for employee misconduct, but also how long...
Agency Clarifies a Vague Standard During PIP
By Deborah J. Hopkins, March 11, 2024 We get a lot of questions about how a supervisor can effectively address unacceptable performance when an employee’s performance standards are written in a vague or subjective manner. In fact, vague standards are probably one of...
When Sexual Harassment Turns Into a Workers’ Comp Claim
By Frank Ferreri, March 11, 2024 If you read our pre-Valentine’s Day piece on sexual harassment, you are aware the wrong kinds of advances can lead to EEO headaches. But did you know sexual harassment may also lead to a compensable injury under the Federal Employees’...