Private sector employees may make more money than their federal counterparts, but Uncle Sam's workers have more employment rights. Unfortunately, many feds can't decipher much of the legal lingo that becomes critical when the time comes to exercise those rights.
That's why folks at the National Employee Rights Institute (NERI) asked seven Washington attorneys to help answer complex legal questions about federal employment rights in their new book, Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide.
The book covers topics such as misconduct, discrimination, whistleblowing, reductions-in-force and worker's compensation, and is written in a plain, straightforward style.
Using a question-and-answer format, the book spells out exactly what benefits federal employees are entitled to. The book's 15 appendices include sample letters of request, complaint forms and appeal documents. A guide to civil service acronyms decodes the complex legal language surrounding lawsuits, appeals and federal regulations.
"A recent survey shows that [federal employees] are seven times more likely to file a civil rights complaint and are far more likely to use internal grievance systems," Paul H. Tobias, head of the National Employee Rights Institute, wrote in the foreword to the book. But, federal employment laws are "a maze of regulations and procedures. There are very few lawyers in our nation who are experts in representing the legal employment problems of federal workers," Tobias wrote.
Among such experts are the attorneys from the law firm Passman & Kaplan who produced the Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide. All of the contributing authors specialize in representing feds and federal unions.
One of the book's most important chapters, entitled "Promotions and Within-Grade Increases, or Show Me the Money," explains what promotions are based on, how to qualify for within-grade increases, and what to do if you don't earn what you think you deserve.
Other chapters cover ways to fight wrongful termination, how to comply with deadlines and statutes of limitation, eligibility for unemployment compensation and how to deal with attorneys, administrative agencies and courts.
Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide can be ordered by phone from NERI at 1-800-HOW-NERI, by fax at (513) 241-7863 or via e-mail to mail@nerinet.org.
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