More Federal Employees View Lack of Training as Discrimination

More training would help employees improve their skills, but it could also reduce the number of discrimination and retaliation complaints filed against the government, according to this chart.

President Obama’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal promises to invest more in federal employee training. More—and better—training would help employees improve their skills, but it could also reduce the number of discrimination and retaliation complaints filed against the government, based on data compiled and analyzed by Washington employment law firm Tully Rinckey.

The firm examined trends in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and matched them against the number of discrimination and retaliation complaints that employees filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit Systems Protection Board alleging they’d been denied training.

“Dissatisfaction among federal employees has been growing for years, but I think we’re deluding ourselves if we try to place all the blame on budget constraints,” said firm partner John P. Mahoney. “Discrimination and whistleblower retaliation likely share some of that blame.”