Can an Agency Track Down a Former Employee and Discipline Him?
By Deborah Hopkins and William Wiley, August 14, 2019
This hypothetical recently came across the FELTG Help Desk, and we thought it was a curious question that the rest of our readers might be interested in. It’s a multi-part scenario, so read carefully.
- Can a misconduct investigation at an employee’s old agency follow him to or otherwise impact him at a new agency where he has gotten a new job?
Answer 1. As long as the agency can find a nexus (a connection) between the previous misconduct and the current government job, then an investigation (and its ensuing findings) from another agency may follow the employee to the new job. The impact can include anything from nothing through removal, depending on how the new agency views the conduct.
The investigation stays with the employee because the employee is accused of engaging in misconduct directed against the government, which is not limited to just the former agency. Or, perhaps he’s committed a criminal act (against the American people). Either way, moving from one agency to another does not relieve him of accountability.
- If it is a low-level offense (far from criminal), can the old agency mandate the employee back to be interviewed, and reach them at their new agency to receive the proposal and decision letters? Or does the new agency somehow take on the case?
Answer 2. The former agency can absolutely request the employee to come back for an interview, and the new agency’s supervisor can mandate the employee comply with the interview request or else face disciplinary action. And just so you know, refusal to cooperate with an agency investigation is first-offense removal misconduct, no matter how serious or minor the misconduct allegations might be. See, e.g., Hamilton v. DHS, 2012 MSPB 19, Weston v. HUD, 724 F.2d 943 (Fed. Cir. 1983); Negron v. DoJ, 95 MSPR 561 (2004); Sher v. VA, 488 F.3d 489 (1st Cir. 2007).
Keep in mind, even though the employee has left, there’s this little piece of the Administrative Leave Act of 2016 (part of the 2017 NDAA) dealing with investigative leave that says if an employee quits during an investigation, the formerly employing agency should complete its investigation, then forward any adverse conclusions to the new agency for inclusion in the employee’s OPF. The former agency will have to notify the employee and then deal with any appeal, and as far as we can tell this issue has never been litigated.
When it comes to imposing discipline, however, that decision must be made by the new agency.
The employee now works at X agency, so he is controlled by X agency’s rules and regulations. And no agency regulations in the history of our great country allow some other agency to discipline employees other than its own. The former agency, call it Y, can inform agency X of its findings and recommend to management at X that the employee be disciplined. If X refuses to discipline, then the management at Y can go up the chain of command to the President and have him order X to discipline. The power to discipline employees is vested in the president (5 USC 301, et seq) and he can delegate that authority downward to his respective department heads. It’s all up to him.
In summary, the authority to discipline is vested in the employing agency, not the formerly employing agency. The old agency can recommend, but that’s about it, UNLESS…
If agency Y doesn’t mind taking political heat, they can report the matter to the IG of agency X, just like anybody can, by dropping a dime on employee misconduct.
[Wiley Note: Several years ago, while riding with a chatty Uber driver, he asked me what I did for a living. I told him that I helped government agencies fire people who do bad things. He paused a second, and then asked, “Do these agencies contact you for help, or do you just go around DC looking for bad government employees you can fire?” There are a lot of days, my friends, that I wish that the second option had been the right answer.]
Hope this helps. Hopkins@FELTG.com