Employees’ awareness of the drudgery and absurdity of jobs in the official bureaucracy predates the Industrial Revolution. Although they are less hazardous to life and limb than factory work, for example, office jobs in modern times hardly promote the health of the soul. Despite this, federal employees have more robust protections than employees in other sectors. Over the past few years, our country has gone sour on work, although the United States is hardly unique in this regard. Workers quit quietly by clocking in and then scrolling through anti-work content on social media platforms until their shift is over, doing the bare minimum on the tasks they cannot procrastinate or avoid.
While an entire generation reached a consensus that if their only options were sacrificing their physical and mental health in the service of their career aspirations or living a financially precarious life surrounded by true friends, they would choose the latter, federal employees remained aloof to the Great Resignation. Federal employees have job stability and health and retirement benefits that most American workers do not have. Despite this, most of the labor laws that apply to federal employees are the same ones that apply to private sector workers and to employees of state and local governments. The federal employee lawyers at HKM in Huntsville, Alabama, can help you resolve disputes with the federal agency with which you work.
Prohibited Personnel Practices Go Beyond Discrimination and Retaliation
All employees in the United States have the right to protection against employment discrimination, defined as taking an adverse action, such as harassment, termination of employment, or the denial of a promotion for which the employee is eligible, based on a protected characteristic of the employee. Protected characteristics are personal characteristics of the employee, such as race, age, religion, sex, or national origin.
Furthermore, all employees are protected from retaliation, which is when an employer takes adverse action against an employee in response to the employee engaging in a legally protected activity, such as reporting misconduct to a regulatory agency or law enforcement, filing a workers’ compensation, requesting accommodations for a disability, or requesting a leave of absence from work pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Besides the general definitions of discrimination and retaliation, laws regarding federal employees outline prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), such as the following:
- Retaliating against an employee from donating to a political candidate’s campaign or attending a campaign event, or for refusing to do these things
- Showing favoritism to employees or job applicants based on their voting constituency
- Discrimination based on partisan affiliation, that is, based on the fact that the employee is registered with a certain political party or is not registered with any political party
- Retaliating against an employee for attending an event related to an issue of political relevance
- Attempting to obstruct an employee from finding out a federal work opportunity for which he or she is eligible
- Wording a job description such that it is tailored to a certain internal candidate
- Nepotism, defined as preferring one’s own family members in hiring decisions
- Accessing the medical records of employees in violation of medical privacy laws
What Should Federal Employees Do if Employer Violated Their Rights?
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) handles complaints by current and former federal employees and job applicants against the federal agencies for which they worked or where they applied for jobs. The OSC will investigate your allegations, and if it is able to corroborate your claims and believes that your employer has violated the law, it will file a formal complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board.
You should also notify the OSC if your employer has violated any laws or engaged in any misconduct, regardless of whether that misconduct affects you personally or relates to your employment. It is against the law for your employer to take adverse action against you in retaliation for your filing a report with the OSC.
The Hatch Act and Federal Employees
The Hatch Act restricts certain activities by employees of the executive branch of the federal government. It prohibits all employees of the executive branch, except the President and the Vice President, from engaging in the following actions:
- Using their professional roles to influence the outcome of an election
- Requesting or receiving political contributions
- Running as candidates in partisan elections
- Pressuring others to engage in political activity or to avoid engaging in political activity
- Engaging in political activities while on duty at work
Negotiating an Employment Contract as a Federal Employee
Alabama is an at will employment state, which means that it is legal to work and to hire employees without signing an employment contract. Federal employees not only are more likely to have employment contracts, but their contracts are also more likely to guarantee them job security and perks that are beyond the wildest dreams of most employees, especially in Alabama.
If your employer breaches the employment contract, you have the right to file a breach of contract lawsuit against your employer, but only after following the procedures listed in your contract regarding notifying the other party of the breach and attempting to repair it.
Of course, employment lawyers can be just as helpful with matters related to employment contracts even before problems arise. Most of the angst that employees, federal or otherwise, feel in relation to their employment contracts. If employees fortunate enough to have contracts are unhappy with their working conditions or their pay, it is usually not because one of the parties is not abiding by the terms of the contract; instead, it is because the contract promises less than what the employee wants. The solution to this problem is to negotiate for a higher salary or better benefits before you sign. Our employment lawyers can help you do this.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys About Federal Employment Disputes
The employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can give you advice about your job with a federal agency. Contact our federal employment lawyers in Huntsville, Alabama to set up a consultation.
