Insubordination is a serious charge, often justifying the removal of an employee. Some observers of the federal workplace might think that at least some insubordination occurs on a daily basis without much of a management response. These observers see employees who continue with impunity to fail to do what they have been instructed to do. One difficulty for managers is the legal definition of the word “insubordination.” According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Merit Systems Protection Board, insubordination is the willful refusal to follow a lawful order. The challenge usually is proving the…

Federal managers are often confronted with a situation in which a subordinate employee wants a representative or witness to be part of a meeting. The question for the manager is: Do I have to let the representative in? The answer depends on whether the employee is a member of a bargaining unit represented by a federal-sector union. If so, specific rules exist concerning formal meetings and investigations. In general, if a meeting is formal, the union must be notified and provided an opportunity to be present. With respect to investigations, a manager must allow a representative into a meeting if…

Performance improvement plans (PIPs) are not fun for either the manager or the employee. But, both the manager and the employee can make the best of a PIP. The PIP is a notice to the employee of an opportunity to improve performance, or be fired. From the employee’s perspective, it is almost like being put back on probation, and should be regarded as such. From the manager’s viewpoint, a PIP is a lot of work with a seemingly never-ending period of putting up with a nonperformer. The employee who receives a PIP notice should take it seriously and respond with…

Anyone can write good performance standards. One does not need to be a good writer or to understand human resources technicalities or the science of performance management to come up with a standard that will pass scrutiny at the Merit Systems Protection Board. But writing standards is only part of the job. The secret to good performance management is what the manager does after the standard is written. The law requires that performance standards be as objective as practicable. This is important because someone who fails a performance standard can be fired after failure on a performance improvement plan. But…

Any subordinate federal employee can file an equal employment opportunity (EEO) claim against his or her boss at any time, for any reason, and without basis or belief that discrimination is really the problem — and can do so with impunity. Thus, even the best manager cannot stop an abusive EEO complaint. But a good manager can deal effectively with the complainant and substantially reduce the likelihood of a subsequent reprisal complaint. Some federal managers are subjected to EEO complaints that can hang around for years in a broken EEO system that delays justice for complainants who are real victims…