“Serving those who serve in government”
In 2012, the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), an advocacy group for female soldiers, filed a lawsuit challenging a 1994 Pentagon policy barring women from serving in combat roles. That policy kept women from serving in 238,000 positions in the military.That...
According to a letter submitted by members of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General received a sexual misconduct complaint against FEMA's then chief component human capital...
Current and prospective federal employees are sometimes required to undergo a polygraph exam as part of their security clearance applications or renewals. Mostly, the "lie detector test" is required for people seeking a high security clearance within the intelligence...
Before a government agency can remove a non-probationary employee, it must issue a proposed removal letter. The employee has the opportunity to respond to the proposal. Then the employer will issue a decision letter.Unfortunately, a lot can go wrong in this process....
Sexual harassment in the workplace has become a hot-button issue in many fields, including the federal sector. While workplace sexual harassment is currently the most widely discussed form of gender-based discrimination, two recent lawsuits have brought attention to...
Last week, the Department of Justice issued new directives to address sexual harassment in its workplaces. Some complain, however, that the policies invite uneven application from section to section, and that could mean leaving victims of harassment and assault...
Federal employees who are suffering from a disability often have questions about seeking disability benefits. This Q&A answers some of those questions:What Is OPM?The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the federal agency that determines whether someone gets...
Age discrimination is an issue that can affect any workplace.Although there are many forms of age discrimination, one example is widespread and quite shocking: Employers pressuring older employees to retire.The conduct may be subtle or more straightforward. The...
Last year, the average time a federal employee waited for a resolution of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint was 543 days. The reasons include a large backlog, a shortage of funding, perhaps a lack of leadership -- and the #MeToo movement, which has...
There is an apparently unforeseen consequence of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that affects federal employees who have been reassigned. Under previous law, when federal employees relocated for their jobs they could deduct certain travel and moving expenses. Those...