Q: I lost my job a week ago, and I discovered that I accidentally signed up for a Dependent Care FSA Account at my last benefits enrollment when I meant to sign up for a Medical Expense FSA Account. I already have a balance of $1,300 in the Dependent Care FSA. Is there any way I can get this money back? A: Please consult your benefits representative for further information or questions, but it appears that you have no recourse to the $1,300 balance in your FSA account. Your Dependent Care Account (DCA) is an employer sponsored benefit. Your participation…
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If you are a manager or supervisor and have a role in a merit selection process, be careful. Over the past several years, I’ve seen an increase in the scrutiny of the manager’s role in the merit selection process — specifically into whether a manager has influenced the process to steer a selection. Many of these cases involve an allegation that the manager engaged in the prohibited personnel practice (PPP) of granting an unauthorized preference or advantage in hiring an applicant or promoting an employee. Since I began practicing law, I’ve heard federal employees complain about not being selected for a…
Q: I filed a complaint with the OSC and was able to prove all my claims and that I was fired for whistleblowing. The OSC is now in talks with the agency for corrective action. They want to know how much money I made in the last 15 months since my firing so they can subtract it from my back pay as part of the corrective action. Is this legal? The OSC said that this was a new law and I cannot find a thing about it. A: Yes, even though you were unlawfully retaliated against for your whistleblower activity,…
Q: I had been working in the same position at the same duty station for ten years until my employer recently changed my duty station. My new worksite is five miles away into the adjacent county that has locality adjustments. Am I entitled to a pay adjustment? It is a pay difference of $500/month. A: If you have changed locality areas, you should indeed receive a locality adjustment. Determining your locality pay is usually an easy three-step process because locality payments, special rate supplements, and cost-of-living adjustments are all determined according to where your official duty station is. First, you…
Q: Can a recently retired federal employee file an Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) complaint? A: Yes, for the purposes of filing a complaint, whether the complainant still works for the allegedly discriminatory agency, or not, is immaterial. EEOC regulations require only that the complainant contact the relevant EEO counselor within 45 days of the allegedly discriminatory act. In the case of a retired federal employee, the appropriate EEO counselor would be the counselor for the retiree’s former federal agency. This response is written by James P. Garay Heelan, associate attorney of Shaw Bransford & Roth PC. Disclaimer: Ask a Lawyer publishes information…
Q: What is the impact of loss of security clearance? A: The immediate impact of a loss of a security clearance varies depending on your current position. If a security clearance is revoked, and one of the requirements of your position is a valid security clearance, you will not be able to continue serving in that capacity, and may be removed as a result of the loss of clearance. Because a security clearance is at all times subject to continual investigation, and does not bring with it a property interest, agencies are only required to provide minimum due process. This…
By the time you read this column, you may have learned that my law partner Bill Bransford died Sept. 27 after a long struggle with cancer. Bill served as the Ask the Lawyer columnist since February 2010 with great pride. I practiced law with Bill for 24 years. He hired me fresh out of law school. I worked directly for him for the first nine years, and since then as Bill’s law and business partner. Mostly, he was my mentor and dear friend. Everyone who knew him thought of him as a giant in the arena of federal personnel law,…
William L. Bransford, a prominent lawyer serving the federal community and regular columnist for Federal Times, died Friday. Bransford, who was fighting cancer, was 66. As a partner at the law firm of Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C. since 1983 and general counsel of the Senior Executives Association (SEA) and Federal Managers Association, Bransford helped pioneer the field of federal personnel law, along with his mentor, Jerry Shaw, who founded the law firm in 1982. “At the time there was no such thing as federal personnel law,” said Debra Roth, a fellow partner at the firm who worked with Bransford…
Ask the Lawyer received the following question (paraphrased for easier reading and clarity) from a reader on a legal matter that might be of interest to the entire audience. Q: I’m currently a federal employee within the Department of Justice, and a member of the Army National Guard. My local HR department told me that prior to any use of leave without pay during my drill weekends or annual training, I was required (by the Department of Justice policy) to write a memorandum to my executive supervisor stating I would be using LWOP during a military absence and provide the…
Ask the Lawyer received the following question (paraphrased for easier reading and clarity) from a reader on a legal matter that might be of interest to the entire audience. Q: For the last 7 years, I was in the competitive service. I am also a veteran. Approximately a year ago, I transferred from a GS-1801 Competitive Service to a GS-1811 Excepted Service. Although I have changed job classification from general inspection to criminal investigation, I am still doing law enforcement work. Essentially, it is the same line of work; I just do more paperwork now. My new agency told me…