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Norton’s House-Passed Provision Protects Federal Workers’ Due Process

September 18, 2014

Provision assures ample time to prepare cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the Senior Executive Service Accountability Act, H.R. 5169, which passed by voice vote on Tuesday, included Norton's amendment to protect due process rights for federal workers. Although Norton opposed the final bill, which makes it easier to terminate the employment of members of the Senior Executive Service (SES), her amendment maintains the federal government standard of 30 days' advanced notice of suspension or termination. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Republicans attempted to shorten this timeframe to 15 days, but during the debate on the Norton amendment, she expressed concerns with shortening the time period, arguing that it is unfair that employees should only get 15 days to put their case together, while management may get months to prepare their own case. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (D-CA) agreed in committee to work with Norton on finding a solution to address her concerns. As a result, her proposal to keep the 30 days' advanced written notice of an adverse action was accepted by Issa and included in the final version of the bill.

"Shortening the time period for notice to only 15 days would have severely limited the amount of time that the senior executive would have had to prepare her case in response to the charges," Norton said. "Yet management would have had virtually unlimited time to prepare the case against the employee. I very much appreciate the efforts of Chairman Issa in working with me to find common ground in maintaining due process for these workers."

After the committee markup of the bill, many Democrats were leaning against the final bill because it includes a new provision that presents constitutional issues. The bill allows the agency to take back salary and the accrued leave earned by the senior executive during the period that the senior executive was suspended and given notice of suspension or termination and placed on administrative leave, after the agency's determination has been upheld. SES members serve in key positions across 75 federal agencies, just below the top Presidential appointees.