December 2019 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
When Life Gives You Snow, Build a Snowman
A few days ago, I was lucky enough to travel to the Grand Canyon to conduct a training class. Somehow in all my travels over the years I had missed this amazing wonder of the world (except from 35,000 feet above), so I was excited to spend some of my free time on a few of the beautiful hiking trails that draw people from all over the globe.
Nature, however, had another idea and dumped over a foot of snow on the park two days before my arrival, rendering most of the trails too dangerous for a recreational hiker like myself to attempt. I took two tentative steps onto one of the trails marked “moderate” and immediately lost my footing from the icy conditions, so I decided to leave the hiking to another trip. What do you do when you plan a hike but snow and ice intervene? Maybe, you make the best of it and build a snowman.
And with that, it’s onto the last FELTG Newsletter of 2019. Read and enjoy, and warm holiday wishes to all of our FELTG readers.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
Cook, McCauley, and Savage: What if AWOL is Involved?
By Barbara Haga, December 11, 2019 This month we are looking at Cook cases from another angle. What are the charges when there is AWOL included in the time off? Here is a scenario that a former class participant inquired about: In 2018, Employee X was on 154 hours of...
The Fed Who Farted on His Coworkers: The Case is Not Always What it Seems
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The Good News: What Says Happy Holidays More than a Column about Due Process Law?
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Deep-fried Cubicle Chicken, Naked Employees and Unwritten Rules
By Dan Gephart, December 11, 2019 Here at FELTG, we like to make things as easy as possible, especially when it comes to discipline. The slide that introduces the elements of the discipline portion of our flagship supervisory training course, UnCivil Servant: Holding...
Equal Pay Act Claims: Yes, They Exist in the Federal Sector
By Meghan Droste, December 11, 2019 The discussion of pay inequality — the fact that women still earn less than men in the American workplace — generally seems to focus only on the private sector. The news, by the way, is not exactly great right now. Latina Equal Pay...
Old Man Winter and the Requirement to Telework When it’s a Snow Day
By Deborah Hopkins, December 11, 2019 ‘Tis the season. Yes, the holidays are upon us and there are lights and ornaments and Christmas trees everywhere you look. But it’s also the season of snow, sleet, and ice in many parts of the country. And with that, it’s a good...
EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report
By Meghan Droste, December 11, 2019 With the year (and the decade!) rapidly coming to a close, I decided to forgo our usual discussion of tips to avoid trouble with the Commission, and instead review some good news from the EEOC. In its recent Agency Financial Report,...