Category Archives: Discipline/Adverse Action

UNTIMELY DISCIPLINE SUGGESTS CBP MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER What does it say about an agency when it takes months or even years after it becomes aware of an employee’s misconduct to discipline the employee?  We think it suggests a serious mental illness … Continue reading

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SOFTENING SUSPENSIONS In 1994 MSPB announced that when it had the power to impose adverse action agencies were required to have an employee serve his/her suspension on consecutive days, rather than let the employer serve a few days of a … Continue reading

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TURNING TABLES OF PENALTIES ON MANAGEMENT Not long ago MSPB overturned an adverse action because of a mistake management made using its own table of penalties to set the penalty.  The mistake was not an obvious one.  We want to … Continue reading

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FLRA CUFFS IG INVESTIGATORS—AND SLAMS CBP LR’S INCOMPETENCE For far too long IG Investigators have been able to ignore virtually every union negotiated protection against unfair, intimidating, underhanded investigatory interviews of employees. But FLRA just changed that in with NTEU … Continue reading

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MITIGATING FALSIFICATION CHARGES MSPB pleasantly surprised us recently with a decision in Reid v. Dept. of Navy, 2012 MSPB 94(2012) that lays out how to get harsh penalties for falsification mitigated down to a reprimand.

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WATCH THIS NLRB CASE The NLRB just issued a decision that should have a significant impact on how federal agencies investigate their own employees. The Board confronted a situation where an employer was investigating an employee misconduct matter and instructed … Continue reading

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ADVERSE ACTION DUE PROCESS AND AGGRAVATING FACTORS Agencies are allowed to consider aggravating factors when choosing adverse action penalties.   These could include prior disciplinary actions, poor work record, lack of rehabilitative potential, etc. However, MSPB just reminded us that there … Continue reading

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SIMILARLY SITUATED  CONCEPT EXPANDED AGAIN Not long ago FEDSMILL.com posted a piece entitled, “Who Are the Similarly Situated.”  We noted that at least one circuit court did not require that the employees in the compared cases have the same supervisor, … Continue reading

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SECRET SERVICE’S SILLY SEX STORY Brace yourself, America—and especially federal employees. The culture war is about to flare to near-nuclear levels over the recent Secret Service Agents’ interaction with a salacious slice of Columbia’s service sector. First there will be … Continue reading

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MSPB’S 13TH DOUGLAS FACTOR MSPB and virtually every arbitrator use the 12 so-called Douglas factors to decide whether to mitigate an adverse action penalty.  (See a complete list of the Douglas factors at the end of this posting.) It is … Continue reading

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