No more fireproof feds

Members of Congress are pursuing legislation that would make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct or malfeasance. Senior Correspondent Mike Causey...

Shouldn’t it be easier to fire federal workers caught viewing porn all day, or to sack folks who “forget’ to file their federal income taxes? Why put a deadbeat on paid administrative leave? Why keep paying a perv caught red- handed (no pun intended) while the separation process grinds on? And on?

Why does the government have to go through such a complicated (some say crippling) system of proving misconduct, malfeasance or beastly poor performance, in order to get rid of an obviously very bad apple?

Or is it not quit that simple? Is there a reason for the high- level of due-process in the civil service disciplinary code?

All of the above are questions increasingly being asked in Congress as agencies — from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service make the nightly news in the worst way.

One of the most oft-repeated complaints about the federal civil service is how tough it is to fire somebody. So how true is it?

Key members of Congress are looking at ways to streamline the federal firing process called “at will employment,” or AWE. AWE is the way they do it in the private sector, the politicians argue, so why continue to make federal civil servants fireproof? It started with the VA, but more people in power are saying it should be easier to fire, transfer or discipline problem employees, starting at the top with career members of the Senior Executive Service. The SES has 7,014 members. Their pay ranges from $121,956 to $183,300.

SES members are represented by the Senior Executives Association. The SEA today will release a detailed report outlining members’ concerns about the quickie firing programs being debated on Capitol Hill.

SEA President Carol Bonosaro says a survey of senior executives shows that the quick-firing plan is “overwhelming considered a bad idea.”

Bonosaro said enactment of any such plan in any agency would shatter morale and could keep top-people at the GS 14 and 15 levels from moving up into the SES. Bonosaro said many of her members say if the AWE becomes law many members had said they would retire or seek jobs, often better paying, in the private sector.

For an explanation of the situation and a first-look at the SEA report, tune in to Your Turn today at 10 a.m. here on Federal News Radio. Bonosaro will be our guest and we’ll talk about the proposed quick-fire plans and how things work in the private sector. Listen if you can, call in if you like or e-mail questions (before the show starts) to me at mcausey@federalnewsradio.com.


Nearly Useless Factoid by Michael O’Connell

An apple turns brown when a compound in the fruit called ortho-quinone reacts to oxygen. The ortho-quinone produces melanin, the same brown-colored compound that causes a person’s skin to tan when exposed to sunlight.

(Source: Quick and Dirty Tips)


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