Federal Manager's Daily Report: Thursday, November 18, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm ********************************************************** Valued Added Service to Our Readers:
Federal Job Search http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Job Bulletin Board http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Unlimited Internet Access for as low as $10.90 http://fedweeknet.com Our Readers Will Get Special Discounted Travel Rates Including, Airfare, Hotels, RV's, Car Rentals, and Special Weekend Getaways--Anywhere in the world http://www.fedweek.com/images/adart/travel_redirect.htm ********************************************************* In This Week's Issue 1. Court Remands Decision Exempting Employee From Whistleblower Protection 2. CPB to Install Employee Phone Following Mediation 3. GAO: Better Planning and Execution Needed In SSA Demo Projects *********************************************************** 1. Court Remands Decision Exempting Employee From Whistleblower Protection The U.S. Court of Appeals for Tthe Federal Circuit has reversed and remanded a decision by the Merit Systems Protection Board exempting a former Navy supervisory contracts specialist from whistleblower protections, finding that her organization was not "specifically designated" by the President as exempt. The Navy Office of Special Projects removed Carol Czarkowski's supervisory responsibilities in 1997 and placed her in a performance improvement plan, something she claimed was done in reprisal for disclosures she made to her supervisor that she said are protected under whistleblower law, according to the appeals court decision. It said that after an initial complaint to the Office of Special Counsel she filed an individual right of action with the Board, but an administrative judge dismissed it, saying she had not made a protected disclosure as a Schedule A employee covered by the act. On appeal, the Board remanded her claim, but the agency argued it did not have jurisdiction to do so because the OSP, where she initiated her complaint, was exempt from Board jurisdiction, according to the decision. It noted that certain employees are exempt from Board appeal rights under the whistleblower act, and it came down to whether the Office of Special Projects has been "determined by the President" to be an executive agency or unit thereof "the principal function of which is the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities." According to the decision, "the record in this case reveals without dispute that the President, or his lawful delegate, has not made an actual determination expressly naming Ms. Czarkowski's unit as an exempt agency." The Navy again appealed, arguing that express action by the President identifying a particular agency is unnecessary to exempt an agency from Board review in WPA cases, yet without explicit exemption of her agency, according to the decision, Czarkowski "met her burden of establishing Board jurisdiction, and is protected by an appeal right to the Board of her claim of adverse personnel action by the agency in response to her allegedly protected disclosure," according to the appeals court. It said that on that basis it reversed the finding that her unit is exempt from the merit systems appeal process, and remanded for further adjudication under her whistleblower claim. http://www.fedcir.gov/opinions/03-3300.pdf 2. CPB to Install Employee Phone Following Mediation After resisting union attempts to overturn a management ban on cell phone and pagers in primary and secondary inspection areas, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection will begin installing phones for employees working in those areas to get incoming emergency calls, the National Treasury Employees Union has announced. It said its approach to the "emergency notification system," which CPB management feared could still be used for criminal activity, won the approval of the Federal ServicesImpasses Panel, part of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The panel rejected CPB's claim that the phone interfered with its management right to determine internal security practices, as well as its offer to relay emergency calls to employees in those areas from its national law enforcement communications center, instead finding the idea for a dedicated phone to be a reasonable solution, said the union. 3. GAO: Better Planning and Execution Needed In SSA Demo Projects The Social Security Administration has the authority to waive certain rules for demo projects exploring ways to encourage people to return to work and lessen their dependence on disability insurance, but has used it in limited ways, the Government Accountability Office has said. While Congress is trying to determine if it should make permanent SSA's authority to waive certain disability insurance and Medicare program rules and use Social Security trust funds, GAO reported that the agency has focused "on a relatively narrow set of policy issues -- those dealing with the provision of vocational rehabilitation and employment services," according to GAO-05-19. The report said that even though recent projects have experimented with measures such as reducing benefits based on earnings rather than terminating them, the agency still lacks systematic ways of ensuring it is fully leveraging its authority. GAO reported that the agency "has not developed a formal demonstration research agenda explicitly identifying its broad vision for using its DI demonstration authority and explaining how ongoing or proposed demonstration projects support achievement of the agency's goals and objectives." It said the projects have little impact on DI policy issues, partly due to "methodological limitations that have prevented SSA from producing project results that are useful for reliably assessing DI policy alternatives." Further, SSA lacks a "formal process" to ensure project results inform policy considerations, said GAO, noting that the agency does not keep complete records of demonstration results to make policy decisions and plan for further research. SSA stands to miss the opportunity to make its special authority permanent, but GAO stopped short of making that recommendation, saying instead that due to the way SSA manages the projects, Congress is not fully apprised of the project results or their policy implications. Published by FEDweek 11541 Nuckols Rd. Suite D Glen Allen, VA 23059 (804) 288-5321 Website: http://www.fedweek.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are subscribed to federalmanagersdailyreport as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
