Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Lifer Date:   4/28/2016 9:46:54 AM

Actually, you may have misread my post.  I think I said time off WITHOUT pay. 

You know, the employees and the managment do not write the personnel rules.  A lot of this is based on laws. Those laws favor the employee.  To fire someone on a performance issue it takes 2 years.  Because managers are required to document and employees get to respond and what amounts to improvement plans and responses.  Sometimes it works and the employee realizes that they are in serious dodo and they improve.  So what do managers do?  Sometimes they make it so upleasant for the employee, that they quit or they retire.  I've done this.  Got rid of two low perfomers that way. 

When I was an Office Director, I had a 70 year old Engineer, who also happened to be Indian.  He could not sit with his team, because he got his doctor to write him a note saying that that he had to be next to a window.  He got very sick with kidney disease.  He was out for months with pay using his built up sick and vacation days.  His work then had to be done by others.  Went to personnel to find out what could be done.  Nothing.  After he used up all his paid leave, he applied for leave without pay.  Leave without pay is left to the discretion of the manager.  Working with personnel, we denied his request.  My deputy and I pointed out to him that he was eligible to retire.  He refused.  So we started working on pushing him into medical retirement.  He came back to work.  He did what he had to do, but he was taking up time and space.  Nothing I could do.  Personnel told me to back off or I would be liable for age and national origin grievances, and even if we were successful in getting him out, he would likely be reinstated on appeal.  So I was stuck with a very sick 70 year old who did the minimum, and my hands were tied. 

Once in a while, someone does something so outrageous that they have to be fired.  In he case of my office manager that I fired, I requested that his security clearance be pulled.  He was escorted from the building.  He needed a security clearance to work.  We put him on leave without pay while an investigation was done.  Personnel wrote the letters, and he was out on the street because he needed a security clearance to work, but his behavior and actions (involve serious breech of effective stewardship of government funds) kept his security clearance from being restored and he was fired. 

Congress curses government employees, yet they do nothing to pass legislatin to change the laws that would eliminate all the documentation and appeals.  The Union get involved (and realistically no professional people belong to the union, but it is still there) and the Equal Opportunity people get involved and nothing changes.