Q: Another coworker and I competed for a the same supervisor position, and my coworker got it. After a few months, I was transferred to another caseload and was put under that same coworker with whom I’d competed for the supervisor role. Is that legal? A: Management has the right to assign work to employee. Nothing in the law prohibits management from assigning an employee to work underneath a supervisory position that an employee previously competed for, or from working underneath a supervisor who was previously a peer of that employee. Thus, while it may be an uncomfortably adjustment being…
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A perplexing challenge for a federal manager is figuring out whether a problem employee should be handled through the performance or misconduct adverse action systems. Each system has different standards and requirements. To some managers this looks like a legal trap: Make a misstep and the problem employee is empowered, and the manager is paralyzed in dealing with that employee in the future. This is really not true. Congress has given federal managers both tools, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that managers are free to use either system. Both tools work, but one may…