Many federal employees use government-issued smartphones, tablets and other devices. Now, those employees face a deadline to scrub the TikTok app off their devices. As the Government Executive reported, the White House publicized the ban on Monday, February 27. Its...
Federal Employment Law
Should federal employees care about the Vacancies Act?
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently argued that five Biden appointees were serving illegally as “acting” officials. As the Government Executive noted, this marks a point of disagreement between the GAO and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which argued...
New legislation could change how agencies review applicants
In today’s polarized political environment, it’s rare that we hear about bipartisan efforts. Yet, members from both parties recently came together in the House of Representatives to pass a bill that could change how federal agencies hire and promote their employees....
MSPB releases long-overdue report on sexual harassment
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) recently released its overdue report on sexual harassment in the federal workplace. The report was underway in 2017 but was delayed when the MSPB’s board lost its quorum that January. Based largely on the 2016 Merit Principles...
How can social media presence threaten your security clearance?
According to the people at ClearanceJobs, roughly 4.2 million federal employees have some level of access to classified information. Presumably, this is because they need the access to do their jobs, and to get that access, they need some form of security clearance....
How does the federal government guard against nepotism?
It’s never fun to go through the work of applying for a job or promotion only to learn you didn’t get the job. It’s even less fun to learn that the person who did get the job was related to someone else in the agency. But nepotism isn’t just demoralizing. It’s also...
What does the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling mean for other agencies?
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in West Virginia v. EPA severely limited the EPA’s ability to fight climate change. Naturally, the decision has made headlines. It comes as scientists continue to warn us that we are racing toward a global climate crisis. The decision...
Federal employees may use sick leave to travel for medical care
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has come with massive ramifications at every level. The decision enacted “trigger laws” in 23 states that introduce different restrictions on abortion. This means that many federal employees who might have...
Failure to promote: Technological bias against older federal workers
Expectations about the technological abilities of federal (and all other) employees may have changed and evolved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During quarantine, many people had to work from home and use technology from a remote location. Naturally, this may have...
Ramifications of religious opinions about abortion in the federal workplace
Around watercoolers and in breakrooms across the country, passionate debate about abortion has exploded because of a recently leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overrule Roe v. Wade if decided as written. Federal government workplaces are not...
