Employee Misconduct in the Federal Workplace Series explains the concepts used to discipline federal employees engaging in misconduct and/or unacceptable performance. Written by William B. Wiley, Esq. -- one of the most trusted experts in federal employee relations -- and based on sound principles derived from USC Title V and more than 25 years of case decisions, this series in it’s entirety gives you a firm understanding of how to effectively handle all aspects of employee misconduct problems in the federal workplace.

Course 1: Progressive Discipline -- takes you through the process of implementing progressively stiffer penalties to successive acts of misconduct in an effort to correct undesirable behavior. After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Explain the authority a federal supervisor has to make rules and give orders that employees need to obey
• Identify and gather the necessary evidence to prove a disciplinary action is warranted
• Apply the five core elements of every disciplinary action

Course 2: Unacceptable Performance Actions -- provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the basic legal elements of all unacceptable performance actions. You learn techniques, principles and procedures to use as final efforts to either raise an employee’s performance to an acceptable level or remove the employee from his or her position. From implementation of performance standards and performance improvement periods to learning the tricks of the trade, this course teaches you how to:

• Rewrite an invalid performance standard so that it is valid
• Determine the appropriate length of a performance improvement period
• Manage a proposed removal action based on unacceptable performance

Course 3: Charges in Formal Disciplinary Actions -- teaches you how to craft charges that will be used in formal disciplinary actions such as reprimands, suspensions, demotions and terminations. Over the years, several landmark decisions have made writing charges highly technical and are the basis for many agency actions being mitigated or set aside. This course teaches you how to successfully navigate the charge process by learning how to:

• Distinguish between charges and specifications
• Recognize major charging pitfalls
• Avoid reversal of penalties
• Uncover elements necessary to support charg

Course 4: Penalties in Disciplinary Actions -- guides you on how to construct case evidence and appropriate arguments to reduce the chances of an adjudicator finding reason to reduce the penalty below what the agency selected. This course explains how to:

• Apply the various Douglas Factors by understanding their significance
• Successfully handle mitigating factors
• Select an appropriate penalty and see how it will correlate to the rest of your case

Course 5: Employee Appeals -- guides you through the various federal appeals processes that are available to federal employees when challenging management’s actions. This course familiarizes you with the various jurisdictions of each appellate agency and the procedures relevant to that agency. You learn:

• How to recognize which appeal routes are available relative to the management action being challenged
• The various levels of court review of the final decision
• The remedies that can be ordered by each appellate agency and the methods by which they can enforce compliance
• Detailed jurisdictional requirements of each appellate agency