Government employees can’t be fired, Right??
Wrong!!
Time and time again, we hear this untrue adage that federal employees cannot be fired. This erroneous generalization has been used in recent years as an excuse to “crack down” on the rights of federal employees. But, in reality, federal government agencies can and have always been able to fire federal employees for certain types of misconduct or poor performance. However, many federal employees have unique employment rights that guarantee due process in a removal action. This means that, while a federal employee can be fired, many federal employees are not “at-will” employees who can be fired for virtually any reason. Instead, their employing agencies can only fire them for a specific reason, which is generally categorized as either misconduct or unacceptable performance.
While some federal employees fall into employment categories whereby they can be treated more like at-will employees, many federal employees meet the definition of an “employee” under Title 5 of the U.S. Code.
Generally speaking, Title 5 employees have the right to due process, which guarantees that, before actually firing an employee, the government first has to issue, in writing, a proposed removal against the employee, and the government has to allow the employee to respond to the proposed removal in writing, orally, or both (at the employee’s discretion) before the employing federal government agency can actually proceed in removing the employee from their federal employment. Within this response/reply process, the employee is also entitled to copies of all the evidence/materials the government is relying on to support the proposed removal.
Responding/replying to a proposed removal is extremely important. If you do not reply, chances are, the government will proceed with firing you from your employment due to not receiving any evidence from you mitigating or disputing the reasons given for proposing your removal. While providing a response to a proposed removal does not guarantee your continued employment, it can significantly increase your chances of receiving a different result other than being fired, especially if you present convincing, credible evidence in the reply to dispute the charge(s) alleged against you and/or to show the presence of mitigating factors that should be considered by the designated deciding official within your employing agency when considering what, if any, penalty is appropriate given the circumstances.
Oftentimes, employees are given a rather quick turnaround time by which to reply to a proposed removal. We therefore recommend that if you receive a proposed removal and if you would like to discuss your situation with one of our attorneys, you should contact our office as soon as possible to schedule a consultation upon receiving a proposed removal.
The foregoing statements and recommendations are generalities that do not constitute legal advice. If you have a specific problem in your federal employment that you would like to discuss in more detail with one of our attorneys, please call our office at 757-460-3477 to schedule a consultation.