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...
Federal labor law like dancing on ice floes
A lot can change in a short period of time. As we noted in a post in October, it appeared that employees for federal contractors were headed for some improvements in benefits under orders and rules issued by the Labor Department under President Obama.By virtue of...
State Department career in the balance after worker charged
The federal government puts a lot of stock in the notion of candor. Failing to be forthcoming when asked questions during an investigation could lead to disciplinary action. As we noted in a post two years back, a charge of "lack of candor" proved to be a career ender...
Is it the end of civil service due process, as we know it?
Attorneys with deep experience dealing with the complicated systems of federal employment know that it's no bed of roses. Government workers in Texas or any other state face a veritable quagmire of procedural steps when management initiates action based on allegations...
What federal employee laws bar discrimination?
Readers of this blog in Texas, Atlanta, Washington or anywhere else in the country will appreciate that operating in the realm of the federal work force takes a special kind of person. It also takes a unique level of patience and awareness about bureaucracy,...
