Recent years have seen a steady stream of reports highlighting federal agency blunders that have chipped away at the general public’s confidence in the capabilities of senior managers. Scandals, such as the mishandling of human remains at Dover Air Force Base and the General Services Administration’s $823,000 Las Vegas conference, have left on the federal government the seemingly indelible stain of gross mismanagement. So I was not surprised to see the Obama administration include in its fiscal year 2015 executive budget funding for “administrative actions to produce a Federal executive corps with a broader, stronger experi¬ence base.” Even before news…

Revelations that an Army combat commander earlier this year unleashed a scam email on civilian agency employees, designed to trick them into disclosing personal financial information, has raised many eyebrows. While the commander reportedly embarked on this faux phishing expedition for cybersecurity purposes, it is always disturbing to see an employer – the government, especially – attempt to trick employees into doing something wrong. And while people lured into doing something wrong by federal agents can raise the affirmative defense of entrapment in criminal proceedings, federal employees tricked into engaging in misconduct generally cannot raise this affirmative defense in administrative…

There has been little question among my colleagues who practice federal employment law that the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 is going to vastly change the disposition track record of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) when it comes to whistleblower reprisal claims. While only time will tell just how much more beneficial this act will be among appellants, compared to those covered only by the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1988 (WPA), the MSPB recently supplied interesting data that could serve as a benchmark against which that change could be measured. As required by the WPEA, the MSPB…

Timing is a crucial factor when it comes to deciding when to retire. It is also important when it comes to how older workers perceive their retirements. In fact, research has shown that retiring sooner than expected makes older workers two times more likely to perceive their retirements as being forced, compared to those who retire on time. With the Government Accountability Office recently reporting that 600,000 of the federal government’s permanent career employees will become eligible for retirement by 2017 – up from 270,000 in 2012 – there is a strong possibility that after these employees retire, some will…

There is never a want of news articles about politicians, celebrities or business leaders who do or say something stupid and – after they stir widespread public outrage – apologize, or provide something that loosely resembles an apology, for their actions. For the most part, whether the genuine or pseudo apology came from a congressman who threatened to break a news reporter “in half,” or from a chief executive who publicly complained about two female employees’ “distressed babies,” this apologize-after-outrage strategy has proved successful for high-profile individuals. However, it is less effective for federal employees. The motto, “forgive and forget,”…

With the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness basketball tournament around the corner, federal employees will again face the temptation of participating in office pools and betting a few dollars. It never ceases to amaze me how many federal employees, especially office pool organizers, consider brackets to be a benign game. They are, however, gambling much more than they realize, and during my first year as chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Board made clear that the stakes, indeed, are high. The Standards of Conduct prohibit federal employees from participating in any gambling activity “[w]hile on Government-owned or…

From a career advancement standpoint, sometimes one of the most important things a federal employee can do is have lunch with another federal employee. Of course, I’m not suggesting a promotion can hinge on a roast beef sandwich on rye. I’m talking about professional networking. In fact, a 2009 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that “networking behaviors can contribute to differential salary growth over time” and “[i]ndividuals who engage in networking behaviors are more satisfied with their careers.” Unfortunately, some federal employees, especially women, are missing out on various networking opportunities. They are not getting…

There is no question now that the federal government is struggling to keep sensitive personal information under wraps. A recent Government Accountability Office study found that in fiscal year 2012, federal agencies reported over 22,100 data breaches involving personally identifiable information (PII) – up 111 percent from three years earlier. While the GAO identified several sources of data breaches, ranging from the inadvertent loss of paper documents or portable electronic devices to cyber attacks waged by hackers or foreign nations, I remember hearing cases at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) about another type of source: federal employees who use…

“I know it when I see it.” That was what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said in the 1964 case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, when he declined to provide a definition for a type of sexually obscene film that is not constitutionally protected. Stewart’s justification underscores how certain materials or practices can seemingly escape adequate description and how their identification is largely a subjective matter. A recently-released Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) report on perceptions of favoritism makes clear that many federal employees are applying Stewart’s I-know-it-when-I-see-it standard to this prohibited personnel practice (PPP). The MSPB report shows just…

Putting a price tag on pain and suffering is an unpleasant task, and it was one I fortunately did not have to do very often while serving as the chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). On those not-so-common occasions where the MSPB heard a so-called “mixed case,” which touched on both discrimination and adverse action issues, statute allows the Board to consider awarding compensatory damages to appellants who proved they were victims of certain types of intentional discrimination for “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary [i.e., non-monetary] losses.” I always…