WHO SHOULD ATTEND:  Attorneys, employee and labor relations specialists, human resources generalists, union representatives, and others with a responsibility for representing either the agency or an appellant in an appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board or advising management or employees on rights and options relative to disciplinary and performance actions. Arrangements for CLE credit for attorney attendees often can be made.

SAMPLE of seminar handouts from previous programs.

INSTRUCTORS:  William Wiley, Renn Fowler, and Peter Broida.

Monday, Sept. 22nd -- Adverse Actions.  William Wiley. The five elements of every disciplinary case and the burdens of proof , the fundamentals of penalty selection and defense, obtaining testimony to protect the penalty selection should one or more charges fail, types of evidence necessary to support a penalty selection, the MSPB’s power to mitigate a penalty and recent trends in the Board’s use of that authority, the advantages and disadvantages of using a non-labeled narrative charges, converting an unacceptable performance problem into a Part 752 disciplinary action, educating uninformed arbitrators.  SAMPLE.

Tuesday, Sept. 23rd -- Charges.  Fowler and Wiley. Types of charges, parts of a charge, how charges are interpreted, the role of the proposing and deciding officials, capitalizing on the general charge, allowing the inclusion of lesser-included offenses, charging in the alternative, attractive options to difficult charges and common charging mistakes, proving the difficult, “intent” charge element, a step by step approach to charge drafting, practical exercises to develop charge framing skills.

Wednesday, Sept. 24th --Penalties.  Fowler and Wiley. MSPB and Federal Circuit lead cases in penalty determination, getting “intent” penalties off of “non-intent” charges, proving harsh penalties off of vanilla charges, charging down and proving up, how the maximum penalty is established, an update of recent Board and court decisions: what’s really new and what’s old wine in new bottles, placing the emphasis on notice.

Thursday, Sept. 25th -- Leave Abuse and Medical Issues.  Broida and William Wiley. Overview of federal  laws and entitlements, documenting AWOL and subsequent discipline; FMLA rights and abuses, developing strategies.  Approved leave terminations; unavailability for work and inability to maintain a regular schedule.  Medical inability-to-perform terminations, disability retirement.  "True" disability vs. non-disability medical problems; limitations on FFDE authority.  SAMPLE.

Friday, Sept. 26th -- Unacceptable Performance.  Broida and Wiley. Performance actions in perspective; legal basis.  Drafting a defensible performance standard, implementing PIP's, removal, appeals, evidence and arguments; alternatives to 5 CFR 432 procedures. SAMPLE.

Each day begins at 8:30 and ends at 4:00 with an hour for lunch. Continental breakfast is served beginning at 8:00.

FELTG reserves the right to cancel a session, or make changes, upon notice.

Early Registration is strongly advised as each seminar has a maximum capacity.