Comment from Anonymous

As a HR practitioner, I have the following recommended additions and revisions: 1) 432.105(c)(3) and 752.203(d): Revise these sections regarding disallowance of an employee's choice of representative to include circumstances where that choice would unreasonably delay the employee answer to a proposal. For example, at the end of the section(s), add: "It is the employee's responsibility to ensure that the designated representative is available within the timeframe allotted by the government for the response. The inability or failure of a representative to appear at a scheduled response hearing or other such meeting constitutes a waiver of representation for that meeting; however, the agency may, in its sole and exclusive discretion, delay, postpone or reschedule the meeting, provided that such action is justified by extraordinary circumstances and does not cause unreasonable delay." 2) 432.105(c)(3) and 752.203(d) - Add a confidentiality or NDA provision for representatives, e.g. "Consistent with the provisions of the Privacy Act and the need to prevent inappropriate dissemination of sensitive information, an agency may require a representative to sign a limited non-disclosure agreement in relation to the case which limits dissemination of information learned in that case to what is necessary for those administrative and legal proceedings, or to forums and avenues which are required to be available by law or government-wide rule or regulation." 3) 752.202(d) - Tables of Penalties are very useful tools, to include in the defense of claims of discrimination; the issue becomes when they are binding. Recommend revision to: "Unless required by law, an agency must not establish or use an existing table of penalties or similar policy, nor agree to do so through collective bargaining, to prescribe mandatory disciplinary penalties associated with certain offenses. Tables of penalties or similar policies may, however, provide recommended ranges for certain offenses, and may require an explanation in a disciplinary proposal and decision for departure from those recommended ranges (for instance, aggravating or mitigating factors, specific circumstances of the misconduct that are more severe or more minor than those anticipated in the table of penalties, or conduct that implicates multiple charges or types of misconduct). 4) 715.203 - Add an ability for an agency to not separate an employee and/or rescind the separation, in its sole and exclusive discretion, upon the discovery of extraordinary circumstances that justify an exception (e.g., a car accident that incapacitates the employee in a way that neither the employee nor any family, if any, has an ability report the occurrence to the agency. E.g. "An agency may, in its sole and exclusive discretion, postpone or reverse a separation upon abandonment of position if it has reason to believe and/or confirms that the failure to report from duty was the result of extraordinary circumstances which reasonably justify the failure to report and/or take available leave, for instance, an injury that incapacitates an employee to a degree that it is not unreasonable that neither the employee nor any emergency contact or authorized representative reported the incapacitation to the agency and requested leave."