Practice area
Wrongful Termination of Federal Employees
We represent federal employees who have been terminated or are about to be. "Wrongful termination" isn't one claim in the federal government; it's a question: which system does your firing belong in? Federal employees have stronger protections than most private-sector workers, but only if the right case is filed in the right forum before its deadline runs.
Three paths. Which one is yours?
The same firing can support more than one of these. Part of our job is choosing the combination that preserves every claim.
The real reason is who you are
If the termination is connected to your race, sex, age, religion, national origin, disability, or prior EEO activity, it belongs in the federal-sector EEO process, and the clock is the shortest of all.
45 days to contact an EEO counselor
Federal Sector EEO →The agency calls it misconduct or performance
A removal framed as discipline or unacceptable performance is an adverse action. You get a chance to reply before it takes effect, and an appeal to the MSPB after it does.
30 days to file an MSPB appeal
Disciplinary Actions & MSPB →It started after you reported something
If the termination followed a protected disclosure of fraud, safety problems, or legal violations, it may be whistleblower reprisal, with its own path through OSC and the Board.
65 days for an IRA appeal after OSC closes
Whistleblower Reprisal →You are probably not at-will
Most tenured federal employees can only be removed for cause, with written notice, a chance to respond, and a right of appeal. Probationers, excepted-service employees, and contractors sit in more complicated positions, but even there, discrimination and reprisal protections still apply. If you're unsure what you are, that's a question we can answer in the first conversation.
What you should do right now, regardless of path: keep the notice or decision letter, note every date on it, and don't sign anything (a resignation, a "last chance" agreement, a settlement) before you understand what it waives.
Just terminated, or about to be?
Send us the notice or decision letter and a few sentences about what led up to it. We'll tell you which forum your case belongs in and what deadline you are on.