In previous columns, I have discussed actions a manager should take when an employee does something wrong. But how do you ensure employees do something right? Writing and communicating effective performance standards and plans for employees can go a long way in developing a stellar workforce. A well-structured performance plan outlines the expectations you have of a position. If an employee turns out to be a poor performer, his or her inability to live up to these standards protects your legal liability when adverse personnel action must be taken. There are basic legal guidelines to follow in developing performance standards and plans. The…
Federal employees filed 6,001 complaints of sex discrimination in 2007 under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, according to statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. More than a third of the complaints, 2,224, came from men. Many people tend to be of the mind-set that sexual harassment is the only form of sex discrimination. Sexual harassment is only one form of sex discrimination. I prefer to use the terminology “gender discrimination” to refer to discrimination based on an employee’s status as a male or female. Gender discrimination does not have to involve sexual behavior. Any personnel decisions —…
As the federal workforce ages, managers must ensure their older employees are provided their rights. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees 40 and over from discrimination with respect to any term or condition of employment — including hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, benefits, job assignments and training. In essence, it prohibits all personnel decisions that are made on the basis of an improper consideration of the individual’s age. To make a claim of age discrimination, an employee must be 40 years or older, have received an adverse personnel action, and be able to demonstrate a causal connection between…
Managers can never make all their employees happy. While feelings of surprise or betrayal are natural, you should be careful not to retaliate against the employee who files a complaint against you, especially if the issue is related to equal employment opportunity activity. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations explicitly state that individuals are protected from retaliation after opposing any practice made unlawful by Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Equal Pay Act or the Rehabilitation Act, or for participating in any stage of the administrative or judicial proceedings under those statutes. EEOC identifies the following activities as “protected”…
As a supervisor, your role in managing employees’ leave comes into play when employees fail to follow procedures for requesting leave or when a request must be denied because the employee’s absence would disrupt the productivity of your department. When dealing with disciplinary issues related to leave, the most common violation I see is the employee’s failure to request leave in advance and in accordance with agency procedure. Grievances or equal employment opportunity claims might also be filed when an employee perceives his request is handled differently from other employees’ requests for leave. When an employee contests an action, a…
No matter how much you dislike it, your role as a manager sometimes requires you to take disciplinary action against an employee. The alternative — allowing some employees to disregard the rules — eventually hurts the performance of the agency as a whole. But when employees protest disciplinary actions taken against them — by appealing to the Merit Systems Protection Board or filing a union grievance — punishments are sometimes overturned because of managers’ errors during the disciplinary process. One of the most common mistakes made by managers is failing to identify all the reasons for selecting a certain punishment. In…
The use of government purchase cards has expanded at a rapid rate. Spurred by legislative and regulatory reforms designed to increase the use of purchase cards for small acquisitions, the volume of government purchase card transactions grew from $527 million in 1993 to $18.7 billion in 2007. While the use of purchase cards has been credited with reducing administrative costs, audits of agency purchase card programs have found varying degrees of waste, fraud and abuse. For example, a 2008 Government Accountability Office audit at NASA found employee charges for seemingly personal items, including custom-engraved iPods and a Christmas tree. One former employee…
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) can be a great tool for supervisors in a wide variety of employment conflicts — including discrimination cases, personnel actions, adverse actions, whistleblower claims and claims under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Act (USERRA). When used in appropriate circumstances, ADR can yield results that are faster, less expensive and less contentious than traditional complaint processing, such as through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Merit Systems Protection Board. ADR is an informal process in which a neutral third party, the mediator, assists the opposing parties in reaching a voluntary, negotiated resolution of a complaint. The opposing…
The 2008 Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act, signed into law in October, enhances veterans’ compensation and pensions, and housing and insurance benefits. It also extends protections of veterans’ and military reservists’ employment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA). USERRA prohibits discrimination against anyone serving in the armed forces or taking military leave from a civilian job. This includes discrimination in hiring, promotion, re-employment or any other benefit of employment. The new law clarifies that there is no limit on the period for filing a complaint under USERRA. It also requires agencies responsible for handling USERRA complaints to comply…