Federal Employment Labor Law Blog
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Disputes on Monday, June 17, 2013
The sequester and government agency furloughs may have dropped from the headlines, as the cable news cycle goes after the IRS and NSA stories, but the affects of the furlough are still moving throughout the federal agencies, and the legal actions resulting from those furloughs are beginning to enter the legal process.
When a federal employee is subjected to an "adverse personnel action," they can appeal the action to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which is described as a "quasi-judicial" entity that adjudicates these disputes. The MSPB has received 140 appeals by the beginning of June relating to sequestration furloughs.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Disputes on Monday, June 10, 2013
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) is responsible for enforcing many of the nation's laws governing workplace safety. One of their duties involves the collection of workplace injury reports from industry. A man who was responsible for that department at OSHA was fired for disruptive workplace behavior in 2007. He was a 25-year veteran of the agency, and had been known for his outspoken criticism of the agency's failure to adequately deal with the underreporting of injuries.
His firing had been upheld by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and his case settled after the Federal Circuit reversed the MSPB, criticizing the board for "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law." They found that the MSPB had ignored evidence in support of the whistleblower, and excluded "considerable countervailing evidence."
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Disputes on Monday, June 3, 2013
The federal government is expecting a significant increase in the number of retirements it will see as the baby boom generation of workers ends their careers. This creates a number of challenges for many agencies. They will both lose line employees and subject matter experts and along with those employees, the supervisors and managers will be retiring in increased numbers.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that by 2016, more than half of all Senior Executive Service members could retire, and almost half of GS- 15s will be eligible to retire. This loss of senior managers, combined with the stress many agencies face from sequestration and longer-term budgetary cuts, may create difficult working environments for many employees, with the increased potential for employee disputes and adverse job action as a result.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Rights on Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Last week, a Senate committee voted to approve five nominees for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB has been in a holding pattern since an Court of Appeal's decision ruled that President Obama lacked the authority to make certain recess appointments to the board.
The NLRB is responsible for questions involving union elections and issues of unfair labor practices. The agency originated in the labor laws of the New Deal. The NLRB is responsible for investigating violations and enforcing provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. The agency also has administrative law judges that make decisions on these matters and the board provides appellate review of those decisions employer and employee rights.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Disputes on Monday, May 20, 2013
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has informed a union representing numerous workers within the Department of Defense (DOD) that it would be unable to respond to a request for an advisory opinion on the likelihood of its members succeeding with appeals related to furloughs.
The MSPB noted that it is prohibited by law from issuing advisory opinions. An advisory opinion is issued by a court prior to actual litigation, and is used to provide parties with advance notice of how a court may rule on a particular issue. Courts tend to disfavor granting advisory opinions, because in many cases, as with the MSPB, they may be prohibited from issuing such rulings and because courts prefer to have an actual case or controversy, where all the facts and evidence are brought to the court before it makes a ruling.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Law on Monday, May 13, 2013
Equal pay for equal work has been a fundamental concept in employment law in the United States for very long time. The concept has been federal law since the early 1060s when President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. This does not mean that the concept has been successful in practice.
There have been many challenges within employment law related to the equal pay laws, but one would expect that the federal government, at least, would have set pay scales in such a way as to ensure women working for federal agencies earn the same as men doing equivalent jobs.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Law on Monday, May 6, 2013
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act has only been law for a few months, but a case involving the Office of Personnel Management may compromise much of its protection for potentially thousands of federal government workers in jobs that are nominally related to national security.
Two employees of Department of Defense suffered an adverse job action, when they were "deemed ineligible to access classified or sensitive information." One worker was indefinitely suspended and the other was demoted. They filed cases with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Last fall, an appeals court found their jobs, classified as "noncritical sensitive," meant they could not file cases with the MSPB.
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Disputes on Monday, April 29, 2013
When a federal government employee comes forward as a whistleblower, they understand the risk to their job and career. They have probably already tried to work with their chain of command, and report their concerns to their supervisors. Because so much of what government employees do affects public safety, witness the questions of what inspections were carried out at the West Fertilizer plant prior to the catastrophic explosion, just standing by and watching some disaster unfold is not an option.
A man who worked as a Department of Transportation Air Marshal became concerned in 2003 that a plan by the TSA to remove all Air Marshals from overnight flights created a "danger to the flying public." This was at a time of a heightened hijacking threat. After he told a reporter at MSNBC about the plan, they published a news story and the agency withdrew the plan after public criticism. A later agency investigation discovered he had leaked the information and he was fired. The man argued to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) that his reporting was "protected whistleblowing activity."
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Rights on Monday, April 22, 2013
Many government agencies are struggling with hiring and pay freezes, increased workloads, budget cuts and the effects of the sequestration. The constant mantra seems to be do more with less. Doing more with less, however, comes with a cost, and this cost if often borne by employees, either directly, like pay cuts and furloughs, or indirectly by pressure and harassment by management and supervisors.
The Department of Veterans Affair's Regional Office in St. Petersburg has responsibility for processing claims benefits. With more than 1 million claims submitted every year, the office has been straining to meet the demands. It appears they are not succeeding very well, as conditions have been called "toxic" and employees have filed complaints with U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
On behalf of The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. posted in Employee Rights on Monday, April 15, 2013
Many federal employees are feeling under attack. The never-ending series of budget "crises" and the unrelenting negative publicity aimed at federal employees becomes demoralizing to the average worker just trying to do their job. The sequestration, pay freezes, budget cuts and the incipient furloughs add to the oppressive environment that many workers inhabit.
That disenchanted atmosphere was documented in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which found that at many agencies more than half of all employees are considering leaving. Many employees are faced with the prospect of being expected to do more work for effectively less pay. Some may face disciplinary actions, should the fail to achieve their "objectives," and leaving their current position may seem the only way to improve their situation.
