Passman & Kaplan, P.C. concentrates its practice in employment, labor and discrimination law, specializing in Federal Civil Service law.
Cooperating in EEO Investigations
A federal employee who chose not to participate in her agency’s investigation of her EEO complaint found herself without a right to file a lawsuit against the agency because she "failed to exhaust" her required administrative remedies. That was the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in an unpublished opinion in Austin v.
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| Published: August 27, 2008
Disability Discrimination by State Department
In Adams v. Rice, 531 F.3d 936 (D.C. Cir., 2008), a U.S.
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| Published: August 20, 2008
Court Limits 'Cat's Paw' Doctrine
It is well established that an employer's decision cannot be said to be free of discrimination, even if the decision maker was motivated by a legitimate concern, if the decision maker was relying upon negative information from another employee motivated by unlawful discriminatory or retaliatory animus. This is known as the "cat's paw" doctrine. In an unpublished decision, Roberts v.
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| Published: August 13, 2008
Breach of Last Chance Agreement
In Lizzio v. Department of the Army, No. 2007-3224 (Fed.
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| Published: August 6, 2008
Untimely Disability Retirement Application
In Mendiola v Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the appellant did not establish that he was mentally incompetent for the purpose of excusing the one-year deadline for filing a disability application after separation. No.
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| Published: July 30, 2008
Sleep Impairment a Disability Under Rehabilitation Act
On July 1, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its decision in Desmond v. Mukasey, Case No.
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| Published: July 23, 2008
Complainant's Role in EEO Investigation--Part 2
This is the second of a two-part series on the burdens and responsibilities of complainants in EEO investigations.
Evidence of Discrimination
The complainant must explain why the responsible management official was motivated by discrimination when taking or deciding to take the action being challenged. There are several different types of evidence that can be used to demonstrate that the actions being challenged were motivated by discrimination, such as direct evidence, comparative evidence, and statistical evidence. Comparative evidence is the most popular type of evidence used.
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| Published: July 16, 2008
Discrimination Due to Disability
The U.S. District Court for District of Columbia granted partial summary judgment against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Bergman v. Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, Case No.
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| Published: July 2, 2008
Hatch Act
It is the season again when our attention is focused on political campaigns. For federal employees, this can be an exciting time because, in essence, you are selecting your next boss! But, this can also be a time when employees' interests in helping candidates becomes problematic because of the limitations imposed on federal employees' political activities.
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| Published: June 25, 2008
Recovery of Legal Fees
On June 2, 2008, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Richlin Security Service Co v Chertoff, 553 US _______, Case No. 06-1717 (Slip. Op.).
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| Published: June 18, 2008