Change Like We’ve Never Seen

“Change is in the air.” We usually say that every September, as kids go back to school and the weather turns cooler. But this year, most kids are not back in school, and at least here in Washington, DC, where I live, we still have summer weather.

That’s not to say change hasn’t happened. The changes we’ve all endured over the past several months have been shocking, and if you would have told me last year that the following things would be normal in the late summer of 2020, I wouldn’t have believed you:

  • It’s perfectly typical – and in fact, required – to wear a mask over your face when you go into a liquor store;
  • Avoiding people on the sidewalk by stepping into the street is the polite, and not rude, thing to do; and
  • You can attend MSPB Law Week or other training classes virtually and still have an amazing training experience.

Change can be uncomfortable, and it may take some time to adapt, but even when things are hard there can be some positives along with it. And life continues, even though it looks different than we might have expected. In this month’s newsletter, we discuss why reprimands save you money, how to deal with conflicted EEO cases, and much more.

Take care,

Deborah J. Hopkins, FELTG President

Good News – Letters of Reprimand Save You Time and Money

I left the government in 2018, I spent a short time working in sales. In nearly every training session or staff meeting I attended, we were told to ma...

What Dave Wants, Dave Gets: Sexual Harassment is Misconduct

We discuss misconduct a lot during some FELTG training classes. And in other classes, we discuss sexual harassment in the workplace. Sometimes these t...

EEOC Provides Guidance on Processing Conflict Cases

"Today everything’s a conflict of interest.” Sid Vicious’ words are more  than 40 years old, but they do seem appropriate these days. While iss...

Flexing Schedules to Help Employees Meet Child Care Needs

The coronavirus has forced everyone to rethink how our society functions. One of the most difficult functions to overcome for me and my peers who have...

Tips from the Other Side: No ‘One Size Fits All’ for Accommodations

This month, I return to our ongoing review of important issues related to reasonable accommodation requests.  Unfortunately, I have seen agencies too...

One Decision – A Lot of Lessons, Including the Power of Accepting Guilt

Sometimes you pick up a case that is just chock full of good information. That happened when the case of Lee v. Federal Aviation Administration, No. 2...