Home > Research Legal Advice > Employment / Labor > I'm a former federal employee. Can I find an atty who will represent me...
Asked 4 months ago - Mulino, OR
FlagI resigned from a job I'd been moved to. I was moved to that job, a job for which I was not qualified. I was moved because I participated in a gov't idea program that highlighted a failing of the agency. This seemed to trigger hostility. Btwn my participation in the program & me leaving, I felt the workplace had become hostile. Before the move, I received two letters, one unofficial that seemed to be rough notes & another, official based on the first, that elaborated the same allegations; poor performance, bad attitude, doing unauthorized work. Before the allegations, I'd won several in-agency awards and received several interagency commendations. I did not use any of the programs to address harassment; EEO, grievance, etc. because employee harassment increases in the interim.
There are several readily identifiable issues in your situation that merit specific discussion with skilled and experienced counsel in your search for a qualified attorney willing to accept your case on contingency. First, "hostile workplace" is a very specific term when used in the legal sense, and does not mean what you might expect based on plain English. Nothing that you have described in your post establishes the legal circumstance of "hostile workplace." Second, choosing not to use the procedures and remedies available in your employment for employment disputes because you do not have faith in the efficacy of those processes will not necessarily be found to have been appropriate or necessary conduct on your part. You have a very difficult case here and the window of time for legal action is relatively short. Reach out for consultations with potentially suitable attorneys without delay.
The time limits to pursue any employment-related action against the federal government is very, very short. If your claim is based on unlawful discrimination, you have only 45 days from the date of the unlawful act (the termination) to initiate your claim with the agency's internal EEO. Please see my Avvo guide to the EEO complaint process for federal government employees: http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/summary-of....
If it is not a discrimination matter but instead something covered by the Merit Systems Protection Board, you have only 30 days to file your claim. www.mspb.gov.
If you are still within your time limits and wish to proceed with an attorney, you can find a plaintiffs employment attorney on the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) web site www.nela.org. NELA is the largest and most influential bar association in the country for attorneys representing working people. You can search by location and practice area. Also, NELA has affiliates in every state and many cities which are listed on the NELA site. Not all NELA attorneys are named on the web site or affiliate site. This should not influence your selection; attorneys can choose whether or not to purchase a listing in the national directory, and each affiliate has its own rules for listing. Make sure the attorney lists that he or she practice federal employment law; this is an area that most employment law attorneys are not familiar with.
Also, be prepared for disappointment. A forced resignation (constructive discharge) case is extremely difficult to prove.
I hope you can resolve your situation and wish you the best.
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