MSPB Attorney at the Attig Law Firm describes the three situations where a Federal Employee might be suspended indefinitely.

When a Federal employee is removed for failing to maintain a security clearance, the  MSPB may only review that decision to determine whether the Agency met its burden of proof that:

1) the employee’s position required a security clearance;

(2) the employee’s security clearance was denied or revoked;

(3) transfer to a non-sensitive position was not feasible; and

(4) the agency followed the procedural requirements of 5 U.S.C. § 7513 in processing the removal action

In a recent case decided by the MSPB, the full Board applied the Egan [...]

An Agency can take disciplinary action or adverse action against a Federal Employee for being Absent Without Leave (AWOL).  Rarely, however, is the Federal Employee both absent from work and absent without approved leave.  Adverse actions involving AWOL before the  MSPB often involve questions of doctors’ appointments, improper denials of annual and/or sick leave, etc.

Therefore, if an Agency takes an adverse action against a Federal Employee for AWOL, it must prove its charges before the  MSPB.  In order to prove [...]

Both the MSPB and the EEOC afford Appellants (or Complainants) the opportunity to pursue discovery.   While the timelines and the amounts of discovery allowed are quite different, the basic ideas of what discovery is and how it should be used are very similar.

There are six (6) primary types of discovery in litigation in the United States (click on the links for the particular type of discovery you want to read about:
Requests for Admission (Click on link to read more [...]

Attorney Chris Attig, an attorney with experience before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), discusses how the Administrative Judge considers the credibility of witnesses at an MSPB hearing.

On August 25, 2009, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued  a decision remanding an MSPB Appellant’s case back to the MSPB for additional review.  The crux of the case, Malloy v. USPS (Fed. Circ. Docket No. 2008-3117), turns on the evidence of the Appellant’s mental health condition.

The [...]

One very serious situation for Federal employees are allegations that the employee misused a government credit card.

The scenario that commonly arises usually involve a government credit card or travel card holder who makes a purchase which is not authorized. Most commonly, this type of discipline involves employees who allegedly purchase a personal item using their government credit card. Other times, it involves charges on a card or cash advances that exceed the pre-travel estimation.

In any of [...]

If an Agency places an employee on indefinite enforced leave, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) may have jurisdiction to review this action.

Typically, an Agency will place an employee on enforced leave, pending the results of a voluntary or involuntary application for medical/disability retirement, or in other scenarios where the Agency has questions (legitimate or not) about an employee’s medical inability to perform the essential functions of the job.

An Agency may place an employee on enforced leave pending inquiry to [...]

When an Agency charges an employee with failure to follow instructions, they are required to prove certain facts:

An instruction or order was issued;
The Agency was entitled to have the instruction followed; and,
The employee did not follow the instruction.

It is important that the instruction to the employee be clear – enough to put the employee on notice that some action or inaction is required of them. For this reason, when the instruction is issued in writing (memo, letter, e-mail, [...]

Not every employee can appeal an adverse action to the MSPB. Here is a brief list of who can make an appeal to the MSPB:

Competitive Service employees who have completed a 1-year probationary or trial period;
Veterans preference-eligible employees with at least one year of continuous employment in the same or similar positions outside the competitive service;
Postal Service supervisors, and some employees engaged in personnel work, who have completed one year of current continuous service in the same or similar [...]