To call a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a key employment law matter “seminal” would be both understatement and a bit obvious. Every SCOTUS legal holding is arguably monumental
Last month’s 8-1 high-court outcome in a federal discrimination case was certainly that. One national publication summarizing the case termed it a resounding win “for older adults who have seen their legal protections from bias erode over the past 10 years.”
Like all employees, federal employees have the right to a safe workspace. However, you may sometimes find it difficult to enforce that right, especially when your agency claims it has already responded to your safety concerns.
This is an issue that recently became timely as government agencies started looking at bringing workers back to the office. While the OPM released guidelines that suggest a measured approach, they left much to the discretion of agency heads. So, what can you do if your agency wants you back before the office is truly safe?
America’s economic history is a long and complex tale. It is marked by longstanding challenges to the country’s vast and varied workforce and U.S. workers’ hard-fought employment protections secured over time.
Unions are at the heart of that story, especially in the federal employment sphere. We duly note the key role they play at the proven national employment legal offices of Devadoss Law Firm. We underscore “the right of federal employees to form unions as an important, and often critical, aspect of federal labor law.”
We highlighted contested employment actions conducted under the auspices of the Merit Systems Protection Board in a recent blog post. We noted in our Devadoss Law Firm April 27 entry that a federal employee suffering from a firing, demotion, suspension or other adverse work outcome has rights that he or she can invoke to contest that adverse result.
The MSPB is centrally important in that process.
The vast federal employment realm in the United States logically enough has a system of rules and processes that come into play in instances of worker firings, suspensions and demotions.
That is to say, employees do not have to simply accept adverse job outcomes passively and without recourse. That is especially true when they believe that an employer has acted unfairly in dealing with them.
Federal employees across the United States comprise a vast and varied demographic. Indeed, myriad sources routinely spotlight the federal government as the country’s largest employer.
Diversity reigns across that singular work realm, obviously, with scores of agencies and departments having specific rules and policies to guide their workers.
There are many ways in which federal jobs differ from those in the private sector. Some of these differences may come to light when people start talking about which workers are “essential.” When non-essential workers take one path, you and other “essential” federal employees must often take another.
The result is that you may find yourself forced to work in hazardous conditions. These conditions may go far above and beyond anything in your job description. At such times, you may wonder if you’re entitled to hazard pay.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a constant and upsetting problem across the United States. Federal employees are not immune. In fact, a recent report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found several ways that federal employees have things worse than those in the private sector.
The report, titled Federal #MeToo, explored the issue of sexual harassment within the federal government. Because the federal government is the nation’s largest employer, it sets a critical example for other business. But the authors found that the example isn’t all good. They revealed a little bit of good news surrounded by a host of troubling statistics.
How often should government employees have to choose between saving lives and advancing their careers? You might think you should be able to do both, but as recent events remind us, many people find themselves torn by the decision. And they don’t all choose to save lives.
This is largely because of whistleblower retaliation, which is completely illegal but still far too common. And it may have played into the recent termination of a Navy captain who broke with the chain of command.
If you or a loved one get so sick that you can’t leave the house, you may need to take some time off. Sometimes you may need to take more time than you have remaining on your sick days. Maybe you can afford to go without pay for a while, but can you afford to lose your job?
Fortunately, you may not need to worry about your job. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) works to protect people in these—and similar—situations. While it doesn’t guarantee you paid leave, the FMLA may prevent your employer from taking adverse action against you because of your illness.
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