Federal labor law in the United States has long enabled federal workers to join and form unions. The right to do so is obviously critically important and has led to workplace gains over decades that have fostered on-the-job fairness and broad-based equity. Labor...
Employee Law
Spotlighting union-linked protections for federal workers
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...
Has the Hatch Act lost its teeth?
Back in June, the Office of Special Counsel claimed that White House advisor Kellyanne Conway had violated the Hatch Act. They recommended she should be removed from her post. But six months later, Conway is still working for the White House. It seems unlikely she...
Federal employees: Tips to prep for your annual review
Annual reviews are commonplace in any job, but those who work in the federal sector should note that even if the review does not directly impact their pay it will have an impact on their position. A recent piece in the Federal Times notes the review could still effect...
OPM chastised for failing to implement needed changes
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has called on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to change how it manages federal workers.Why did the GAO recommend change? The OPM oversees personal data for millions, including those with high level security...
Vacant MSPB impacting federal workers, whistleblowers
As of March 1, the Merit Systems Protection Board no longer has any members. The three-member board has been without a two-member quorum since January 2017, when one of two remaining board members' term expired. The other remaining member's term expired March 1 after...
President Trump issues executive order to freeze federal pay
In late August, President Trump announced his plan to freeze the pay of federal civilian employees. Now, in the midst of the partial government shutdown, he has finalized that plan. On Dec. 28, he issued an executive order formalizing the 2019 pay freeze. Federal...
Arbitrator: USPS must rescind policy on unpaid political leave
In July 2017, the Office of Special Counsel called on all federal agencies to disallow unpaid union official leave when its purpose was for an employee to engage in "partisan political activity." It claimed that allowing leave for that purpose violates the Hatch Act,...
OMB director defends proposed pay freeze as a strategic decision
President Trump's 2019 budget proposal included a pay freeze for federal workers during the federal fiscal year and slow the pace of step increases. It also documented the administration's intention to rely on "pay for performance" to determine federal workers'...
GAO puts security clearance process on its High Risk List
"Currently, executive branch agencies are unable to investigate and process personnel security clearances in a timely manner," says the Government Accountability Office, which has added the federal security clearance process to its High Risk List. The list was created...