Several laws protect federal employees from various forms of discrimination. When employees believe they’ve suffered because of discrimination, these laws allow them to hold their agencies accountable. But then, all too often, managers or others within the agencies...
Employee Rights
What does the MSPB do?
For just over five years, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) had gone without top leadership. This meant the board was unable to fully complete its work. But what is that work? What does it mean that the MSPB once again, finally, has a governing quorum of...
New rule would improve transparency around federal discrimination
Last year, Congress passed the Elijah E. Cummings Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act. In January, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed the rule it would use to uphold the law. Now, at the beginning of February, the comments period for the proposed...
What should federal employees know about the vaccine mandate?
As a federal employee, you may be confused about the current state of federal vaccine mandates. That’s understandable. There are multiple vaccine mandates in play, and their statuses have changed a great deal in the past months. One of the more important updates came...
How long do disciplinary proceedings take?
A recent audit revealed that the IRS has failed to process discipline in a timely fashion. Of the 6,100 actions initiated over a 12-month period ending in mid-2020, more than a quarter remained unresolved. Many of these actions were more than half a year old. At the...
Unraveling the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the federal workforce, part 2
Today we continue our post about President Joe Biden’s September 2021 Executive Order 14043 that mandates federal employees (and contractors) to become fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by Nov. 22, 2021. As we explained in part 1, some exceptions to the...
Understanding the federal employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate, part 1
To comply with President Joe Biden’s vaccination mandate, federal employees need to sear four dates into their memories: Oct. 11, Oct. 18, Nov. 8 and Nov. 22, 2021. On Nov. 22, all federal employees (and federal contractors) must be fully vaccinated against the novel...
Are you the target of an internal administrative investigation?
Millions of federal employees spanning the country take immense pride in the work they do. They believe it is important, and they apply specialized education and training toward the accomplishment of key national goals and objectives. Working in the federal sphere can...
Workplace retaliation: sadly, more common every year
Any given American workplace might spell utopia for select employees, but the reality surrounding most work environments is that on-the-job upsides are tempered by imperfections. And that is nowhere more apparent in many companies and varied work venues than in noted...
Women soccer stars win partial victory, seek more re equal pay
Members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team are universal superstars in their sport. The team has legions of fans and a record of achievement that is unparalleled in global competition. Here is one thing, though, that the women do not have: pay parity in...