February 2017 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter

Sad-to-Angry, then Back Again

I think I might be suffering from a form of bi-polar disease. Some days, I’ll review a document drafted by a client and think, “Wow, this is good stuff. They’ve been to our classes, learned how to draft discipline and performance documents, and are doing the right thing the right way.” Other days, I am overwhelmed by the lack of competence exhibited by professionals in our field; e.g., the HR Director with many years of experience who simply emailed the employee and told him he was fired; the attorney who drafted a six-page proposed removal of a probationer (!) based on an email the employee had written that disclosed violations of federal regulations (!!). When these cases are reversed on appeal by the Board, those agencies now will have reason to complain to an oversight committee on Capitol Hill that the mean old MSPB won’t let them fire anybody. In knee-jerk response, some Congressman will propose abolishing our civil service protections so that it is easier to fire bad employees without the Board in the way. Folks, I probably publicly criticize MSPB decisions more than anybody out here. Yet, I am among the first to say that the main problem we are having with firing bad hombres is not the Board. No, the main problems are that a) many lower-level supervisors don’t believe that they’ll be supported by upper management if they try to fire someone, and b) too many agency employment law practitioners don’t know a Douglas Factor from Douglas MacArthur.  Please, come to the classes. Learn not to propose probationary terminations. Develop radar to recognize a prohibited personnel practice. Exude due process. If we let those people on The Hill try to fix us, they will screw it up. Here at FELTG, we are ready to help you fix yourselves. If you need greater employee accountability in your organization, call us. We can show you how to make it start to happen today, before anybody else tries to do it for you.