March 2023 Federal Employment Law Training Group Newsletter
Blind Hiring: Bad Name, Good Idea?
I was recently discussing a hiring technique with another FELTG instructor: blind hiring, sometimes known as blind interviewing. Despite the problematic name, this is a hiring technique that blocks out candidates’ names, ages, and sometimes other factors, so that hiring officials are influenced only by a candidate’s merit.
The goal of blind hiring is to eliminate any known or unconscious bias from the hiring process, and it’s a way some agencies are promoting the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) mandates required by the White House. It’s also a topic we’ll be discussing during the April 5 virtual training class Nondiscriminatory Hiring in the Federal Workplace.
In this month’s newsletter we discuss the purpose of suspensions, settlement agreements, harassment misconduct investigations, and much more.
Take care,
Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President
Is Three-strikes Progressive Discipline a Thing of the Past?
By Deborah J. Hopkins, March 15, 2023 A recent MSPB nonprecedential decision has me scratching my head, as the outcome appears to go against over 40 years of case precedent. I wrote about the facts of the case in a previous newsletter article, so if you’d like the...
Why, Oh Why, Do You Ever Discipline a Federal Employee?
By William Wiley, March 15, 2023 So you just read FELTG President Deb Hopkins’ article about Ortiz v. Air Force, DE-0752-22-0062-I-1 (Jan. 25, 2023) (NP). The decision is significant only because it is very unusual (some might say “weird”) for the Board to impose a...
When Settlement Agreements Fall Apart: Leave Issues
By Barbara Haga, March 13, 2023 I enjoyed putting together the columns on clean record agreements so much that I thought we should follow that thread. This month, we look at things agreed to in settlement agreements that were ruled to be illegal and resulted in the...
Good News: Prompt Harassment Investigation Can Limit Liability
By Ann Boehm, March 13, 2023 I frequently get asked, “Should the agency conduct a harassment misconduct investigation even if there is a pending EEO complaint filed by the alleged victim?” The answer is a resounding “YES!” I should be surprised by this question, but I...
OPM Report Stresses that DEIA is STILL a Federal Workplace Priority
By Dan Gephart, March 13, 2023 If you were a private sector employer in certain parts of the country, you might hesitate before offering diversity and inclusion training to your staff. Take, for example, Valencia College in Central Florida, whose president told...