Contrary to popular opinion, federal employees can be fired and often are. Sometimes the process is a nudge out the door so the employee receives the message and acts on it before formal action is taken. There are no statistics on how often this happens, but it is probably more common than the traditional disciplinary actions that occur. Other times the message is delivered more subtly. For example, a supervisor used to dealing directly with superiors and then with a clear chain of command to subordinates suddenly finds the higher-ups bypassing him and going directly to the subordinates without informing him.…