Category Archives: Unacceptable Performance

DEFENDING FEDERAL EMPLOYEES IN PIP CASES From time to time, we scan the blogs of various law firms that specialize in representing federal employees and find very useful information.  So, we thought we would start passing on links to these … Continue reading

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AGENCY PIP DISCRIMINATORY; EMPLOYEE REINSTATED A deaf/Hard of Hearing employee could read lips in one-on-one conversations, but needed an accommodation to participate in group conversations. Consequently, his performance suffered and the agency put him on a PIP, which ended in … Continue reading

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THIS POOR DHS BRANCH CHIEF MSPB just upheld the termination of a DHS Branch Chief for unacceptable performance under circumstances that a bargaining unit employee likely would have won. We say that because the agency did not rely on the … Continue reading

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THE LEVEL 2 PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL TRAP The word is quietly passing around among managers urging those agencies that have an appraisal system with a level between Fully Successful and Unacceptable for each element to abolish that rating level. It is … Continue reading

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YOUR SANTOS RIGHT GIVEN RETROACTIVE EFFECT You might remember our recent post about a new court decision, known as Santos, holding that when an agency fires someone for unacceptable performance it must now prove that the original PIP it put the employee … Continue reading

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WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR NEW SANTOS RIGHT? Almost a year ago the Federal Court of Appeals, in a case known as Santos v. NASA, made it just a little bit harder to fire federal employees for poor performance. … Continue reading

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QUESTION: WHEN IS A PIP A ULP? ANSWER: ALMOST ALWAYS The law requires that employee performance standards be written so as “. . . to the maximum extent feasible, permit the accurate evaluation of job performance on the basis of … Continue reading

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MSPB REVERSES REMOVAL FOR UNION ANIMUS While we rarely think of MSPB as a place to slug out a dispute over whether an agency’s unacceptable performance removal of an employee was due to union animus, the Board just reminded us … Continue reading

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HOW TO VOID CRITICAL ELEMENT RATINGS Way back in the late 70’s agencies could only fire poor performing employees using the adverse actions statutes.  Managers complained that made it too hard because they had to prove their allegations by the … Continue reading

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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR OWN GLADYS Almost every bargaining unit has a Gladys. She works as a secretary, clerk, or clerical assistant.  Although she has performed acceptably for years, suddenly management puts her on a short PIP, imposes deadlines no … Continue reading

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