Douglas Dos and Don'ts: Using MSPB Case Law to Determine the Right Penalty

When you’re determining the appropriate penalty for an employee's misconduct, it’s easy enough to find a list of the all-important Douglas Factors you must consider. But the list doesn’t tell you how to balance relevant factors, or even which factors are relevant in different situations.

Don’t risk having your discipline decisions overturned by the Merit Systems Protection Board! Get expert guidance from Attorney Robert Erbe, who represents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before the MSPB and EEOC.

First, Mr. Erbe will get you current on recent trends in MSPB decisions regarding Douglas Factor considerations, including the Board’s new standard for determining comparable employees. Then he’ll explore the 12 factors – defining each one, providing lessons learned from case law and sharing tips to guide you through: 

• Getting the right result by focusing on the agency’s mission, the employee’s duties and how the misconduct affects efficiency of the service
• Assessing if the charge you choose may affect the penalty
• Considering the 3 most important Douglas Factors in a removal case
• Addressing mitigating factors appropriately and effectively
• And more

 Plus, you’ll get:

• A Douglas Factors checklist to ensure you consider all the factors before making a penalty decision
• 3 Q&A breaks during the live event so you can ask Mr. Erbe your questions
• The opportunity to email Mr. Erbe questions for 2 days following the conference!

 This event is an audio conference and can be accessed from the comfort of your office or conference room. Audio Conference registrants will receive an e-mail a few days before the event with complete instructions on how to participate. You'll be given a unique Event I.D. and PIN that entitles you to a single phone-line connection to access the audio portion of the event. The instructions also will include steps to retrieve the speaker's hand-outs.