Agency Grievance Procedures
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Contents
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The actual procedures used in a particular
agency usually have to be obtained from the
agency personnel office, which may require
considerable persistence. They may include
arbitration, peer review or ombudsmen. They
may be implemented by that office, the General
Counsel's office, or supervisors at a higher
level than the manager involved. Hearings
are rare or very limited; strict time limits
usually apply. Oftentimes, employees use
these procedures without legal assistance.
Some attorneys criticize them as merely creating
a record unfavorable to the employee, while
time passes and the hostile work environment
continues. Employees almost never know the
track record of the grievance process or
official beforehand. Claims and decisions
are not published to the outside world; they
may or may not be confidential within the
agency.
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| Appeal rights in connection with security
clearance revocations, downgrading or denials
can only be pursued through agency-established
grievance procedures. For example, the Department
of Defense's Office of the Inspector General
handles, but has not chosen to document,
most outcomes for employees invoking the
Military Whistleblower Protection Act. Clearances
are considered privileges, not rights, and
are uniquely within the President's authority.
The Supreme Court in Department of the Navy v. Egan explicitly denied the MSPB jurisdiction
over actions to remove employees based on
national security considerations. The Federal
Circuit affirmed that position in 2000, despite
a catch-all provision in the 1994 Amendments.
Pending legislation could overturn that. |
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| The Office of Government Ethics establishes ethics standards applicable
throughout the government. Agencies select
employees as their Ethics Officers, to act
as liaisons with the OGE. Their loyalty is
often to their own agency, and some may reveal
information to the complained-about official.
Here's additional discussion about ethics. OGE is supposed to ensure that executive
branch decisions are not affected or
appear
to be tainted by conflicts of interest
(such
as bribery or referral of business
to firms
operated by relatives). OGE issues
legal
opinions concerning conflict of interest
questions involving executive branch
employees.
The individual agency then investigates,
except that the OSC handles political
activities
of government employees (Hatch Act). |
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| Federal employees in union bargaining units
(about 60% of all federal executive branch
positions and 90% of postal workers) may
pursue the procedures negotiated in their
collective bargaining agreement. The union
invokes these procedures on behalf of the
employee, who in theory may not need to be
a union member (although some may believe
representation may be more zealous for union
members). Here's a discussion of union whistleblower
issues, with links to various union home pages. |