Federal employees: with this change in administration, you will have a greater ability to enforce your rights to pay and benefits, to challenge unlawful discrimination, to challenge unjust discipline, and to challenge unfair treatment at your federal workplace.
Federal employees have unique protections when it comes to retaliation, hazardous duty pay, whistleblowing, adverse action, termination, and more.
The agencies that normally resolve federal employee complaints – the EEOC, the FLRA, the MSPB – have either not been there for workers during the previous administration or, worse, have actively sought to harm federal workers. But now is the time to remedy those wrongs. You have protections. And with MSE’s 40+ years of experience representing federal workers nationwide, we are here to help.
- You have whistleblower protections: If you have been retaliated against for alerting your boss to problems in the workplace, you have rights under the whistleblower protections of the Merit Systems Protections Board.
- If you have experienced adverse action or have been unjustly disciplined (such as a suspension), the MSPB provides you with significant protections and the opportunity to overturn that discipline.
- If you have been discriminated against or experienced workplace harassment based on race, gender or religion, you have protections and remedies under Title VII and the equal employment act, under anti-discrimination laws for federal workers, and under federal workplace harassment laws.
- If you are not getting all the pay you are entitled to for all of the hours you spend working: The United States Government is covered by important remedial pay laws like the Fair Labor Standards. In fact, nearly all of the pay and benefits for federal employees are set by statutory laws. This means that if the Government fails to pay you in accordance with those laws, you have a right to sue in court to recover unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and interest.
MSE has also recovered money for thousands of federal employees throughout the nation:
- Cases involving the Government’s failure to pay overtime for pre-shift work, post-shift work, and work performed during unpaid meal periods.
- Cases involving failure to pay Night Shift Pay – If you work between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. you are entitled to a 10% premium for each hour of work, including if you are working scheduled overtime.
- Cases involving the Government’s failure to pay Hazardous Duty Pay – If you are exposed to a hazard, and federal employees working during this global pandemic near or in close proximity to COVID 19, are exposed to a hazard; and when you are forced to work in close proximity to COVID 19 you are entitled to an additional 25% pay for each day that you were exposed to the virus.
Email our team at fedworkers@mselaborlaw.com if you have questions. We’ve had your backs through the last five administrations, and we’ll have your backs through the next administration and beyond.
See our federal attorney practice in action! Click here to visit our cases page, use the ‘Industry’ filter, and check out a few of our class action lawsuits on behalf of federal employees.
