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A new law signed by the President last month gives the Veterans Affairs secretary lots of discretion to fire or demote members of the Senior Executive Service. The law came in response to management problems resulting in long wait times for admittance to VA facilities. The law means SESers at VA work under a different set of civil service rules than those in the rest of government. It also imposes new burdens on the Merit Systems Protection Board. The board issued an interim final rule on how the agency will carry out the new mandate. Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the comments the board received about the rule and what the law does require of the board.
Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project told a House subcommittee Tuesday that some agencies are circumventing the protections provided by the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.
A new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board says that it's time for Congress to simplify the overly complex veterans preference laws to make sure they're doing what Congress put them in place to do.
Despite a series of efforts to expand the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender federal workers by the Obama administration, LGBT feds, who comprise about 3 percent of the federal workforce, are less satisfied, feel less empowered on the job and are less likely to rate their agency's senior leaders and management as highly as their non-LGBT counterparts, according to a recent survey.
Thanks to Congressional budget cutters and the White House sequestration program, two of the most important federal operations - the IRS and the Social Security Administration - are getting smaller and slower. So, how much longer can we afford these 'savings', Senior Correspondent Mike Causey asks?
Legislation in the Senate would allow the Veterans Affairs secretary to dismiss members of the Senior Executive Service on the grounds of performance, and that could mean more appeal cases for the already-swamped Merit Systems Protection Board.
Senior Correspondent Mike Causey wants to know: If the score is 32,000 them and 0 you, do you change your game plan? If your significant other says no 32,000 times in a row, do you consider another tactic? Do Congress and the White House need a new playbook?
The director of the Phoenix VA hospital and two other employees are on administrative leave following allegations that the hospital delayed medical treatment to veterans. Note: they have not been fired. Legislation moving through Congress would make it easier for the VA secretary to give the boot to senior executives. Susan Tsui Grundmann is chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears appeals from federal employees on personnel issues. She joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to explain how the law could change. Read related article by Federal News Radio's Shefali Kapadia.
When you try something 32,000 times, including 1,600 times in one 8-hour period and fail, there is a lesson there. And the lesson is that despite what you've read, heard and been taught, failure is an option. Especially if you work for the government, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
So far, all of the initial decisions stemming from the Merit Systems Protection Board gigantic caseload of furlough appeals have "affirmed the furlough action taken by the agency," according to MSPB's annual report for fiscal 2013 released last week.
Many federal offices took a hit last year, when agencies furloughed employees because Congress couldn't agree on a budget and brought the government to a halt. Now, nearly a year later, the Merit Systems Protection Board is still reviewing complaints from some of those furloughed employees. As part of our special report Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and Its Employees, Tom and Emily spoke with Board chairman Susan Tsui Grundman on the Federal Drive. From where she sits, she says it looks as if the federal workforce hasn't quite recovered yet.
The heads of both the Office of Special Counsel and Merit Systems Protection Board tell Federal News Radio as part of our special report, "Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and Its Employees," that their increasing workloads could actually be a sign of progress, and that more employees feel protected enough to make whistleblower disclosures. However, an exclusive Federal News Radio survey reveals a wide chasm of trust remains when it comes to feds blowing the whistle at work.
Susan Tsui Grundmann, chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board, said many federal employees filed furlough appeals last year because they said they didn't trust that their managers were making the right spending decisions that could have fended off the need to furlough employees. This article is part of the Federal News Radio special report, Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and Its Employees.
Even in 2014, sexual orientation is a touchy subject in the workplace. The Merit Systems Protection Board has just finished taking a comprehensive look at workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and published the results in a report. MSPB's General Counsel Bryan Polisuk and Project Manager Doug Nierle discussed the findings with Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.