U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Appeals and Petitions for Review

The Law Office of Gerald L. Gilliard, Esq., LLC represents Federal employees, officers, managers and executives concerning prohibited personnel practices before the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) and the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).  Prohibited personnel practices include nepotism, obstruction of competition for employment, disregard of veterans’ preferences, coercion of political activity, and discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status or political affiliation.

We also represent agency employees concerning violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act. Such violations include adverse actions or any personnel actions committed against an employee for “blowing the whistle” on gross mismanagement, waste, fraud, or a substantial and specific danger to health and safety. 

We certainly represent Federal employees in their appeal of adverse actions (removals, suspensions, demotions, etc.), internal investigations, petitions for review of Initial Decisions to the full MSPB Board, and MSPB Board final decisions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

The Law Office of Gerald L. Gilliard, Esq., LLC  will be by your side when you face suitability determinations, security clearance revocations, obstacles concerning the Family Medical Leave Act and other time and leave issues, OSHA and workplace safety, probationary periods, probations and the full gamut of agency personnel law.

Gerald Gilliard has worked with a former MSPB Chairman and is currently a member of a network of Washington, D.C. employment law attorneys.

If you work for the Federal government, please immediately contact us if you have been removed or threatened with removal or suspension, subject to prohibited personnel practices, or have any matter that we may be able to assist you with, even if not addressed above

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Discrimination Complaints

Our law firm vigorously represents persons with complaints under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and its corollary, the Rehabilitation Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

We represent Federal employees before the EEOC, and we can provide advice concerning the representation of private sector employees in D.C. and Virginia.  We coordinate with fellow members of the National Employment Law Association to provide representation throughout the country and across the globe (www.nela.org).

Federal Employees

A Washington, D.C. based attorney, Gerald Gilliard has spent years representing Federal employees and executives embroiled in unfortunate disputes with Federal agencies.  This represents the core of this business, and this practice is the reason he founded this firm.  While serving as an attorney and labor representative of the largest Federal employees’ union in the United States, he spent each day available by telephone to Federal employees across the world.  He traveled across the United States providing no-cost legal clinics, seminars on grievances and appeals, and developed a reputation as a tenacious advocate in the field.  He is an expert with regard to filing grievances or appeals of Federal sector adverse actions (an adverse action is an official  personnel action, allegedly taken for performance, disciplinary, or other reasons), complaints of discrimination, alleged violations of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),  questions concerning disability and retirement rights, applications for disability and early service retirement,

Mr. Gilliard understands the distinctions between private sector and Federal sector employment law.  He believes in the hard-won rights and privileges that government employees have earned over decades and that have been codified in the U.S. Code and the Code of Federal Regulations.  He works relentlessly to ensure that Federal agencies respect and abide by those rights.

Gender Discrimination

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits wage differentials based on sex, and we will stand with you in suing your manager for paying you less than your male co-workers.  We will also represent you in actions against your management for both opposite-sex and same-sex sexual harassment.  The law comes down hard on managers who create a toxic work atmosphere by engaging in quid pro quo sexual relationships with fellow co-workers and other forms of sexual harassment.

Race Discrimination

America has grappled with inclusiveness of different races in the workplace since its inception of a slavery-based industrial labor system.  This struggle even today continues to affect most American workplaces --racism remains rampant in our factories, law firms, and hospitals.   While the unemployment rate for the average American is 9.0 percent, for African-Americans, the unemployment rate approximates anywhere from 20% to 50% depending on location in the country.   Over the past decade, corporate and government managers alike have frequently asserted lack of cultural or organizational “fit” as means to justify maintaining illegal racial biases against non-whites in hiring and firing in the American workplace. 

We believe that all persons have the right to be treated fairly at work, regardless of their race, and that the law recognizes discrimination against any American based on his or her race.  As Americans, we have fought and died to establish and protect these rights, which protect all Americans.  When you encounter racial discrimination during your employment interview, or later, while working in your job, contact us immediately to help you investigate it and vigorously fight against it.

Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Title VII also prohibits discrimination against an individual because of his or her association with another individual of a particular race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. An employer cannot discriminate against a person because of his interracial association with another, such as by an interracial marriage. 

Title VII also punishes managers who retaliate against employees for filing an official complaint of discrimination with the EEOC, or with a state fair labor employment agency, or who have even informally notified management about disparate treatment, disparate impact, or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

No one, of any race, color, religion, sex, or national origin should have to put up with discrimination as a price to pay for performing his or her job in today’s workplace.  Please contact us - we will help you timely file your complaint and vigorously combat workplace discrimination.

Veteran Employment Rights

Thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen are returning from the armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, deadly wars that have lasted longer than the Vietnam War or even the American Revolution. They have completed their educations with the G.I. Bill and are often the most highly qualified applicants or returning employees.  Unfortunately, many employers who are either unfamiliar with, or unconcerned about, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), punish our troops by not reinstating them in their previous jobs back upon return from active duty.  Other employers may simply discriminate by refusing to hire former soldiers, sailors and airmen. 

If you were an active duty soldier, sailor, airman, or if you are or were called to active duty while serving in a Reserve or National Guard unit and you believe that you may have experienced something like this as a result, please contact us as soon as possible for a non-cost consultation.

Whistleblower / Qui Tam

Gerald Gilliard began his legal career as an attorney with the first and only firm to successfully prosecute any corporate entity for committing contract fraud in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.  His work in representing relators helped founding partner Alan Grayson in his successful bid for a seat in the United States Congress in 2008.

Mr. Gilliard has represented several Federal employees in the filing of Whistleblower Protection Act complaints, from filing an initial complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, through consulting with the Office of Special Counsel investigator, to filing subsequent pleadings with OSC, all the way through to filing an Individual Right of Appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. He relishes taking on these cases.

Don't take the fall for management misconduct.  If your private sector contractor has engaged in fraudulent procurement or performance of a government contract, please contact us.  If you face retaliation for reporting your Federal workplace management for committing waste, fraud and abuse, don’t delay—call Gerald Gilliard as soon as possible.

Security Clearance Law

The Law Office of Gerald L. Gilliard, Esq., LLC advises and represents individuals and business entities regarding security clearances and the protection of classified national security information before Federal intelligence and defense agencies such as the Department of Defense, FBI, CIA, NSA, and DHS.  We serve clients internationally in any country where the Federal government operates.

A significant number of employees with Federal agencies and with Federal contractors must possess a Federal government security clearance as a condition of being employed. Employees who are denied a security clearance by the Federal Executive Branch, or who have their clearance revoked, will often be unable to continue working if a clearance is mandated.

Many agencies have chosen to permit the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) to hold security clearance hearings (the CIA and NSA have their own administrative forums which we are familiar with as well). Before DOHA, federal employees have the right to make a personal appearance before an Administrative Judge to argue their case. Federal employees and contractors have the right to a full hearing before a DOHA judge and the right to appeal the decision.

The Law Office of Gerald L. Gilliard, Esq., LLC represents federal employees, contractors, and other companies from the initial security investigation through every phase of appellate security clearance procedure.   Please contact us for a free consultation now.

Age Discrimination

After spending decades accumulating experience and being mentors and leaders, many people find themselves being discriminated against for the first time – because they are over the age of 40.   Buyouts are a way to cheaply get experienced personnel to leave and be replaced by younger workers with smaller salaries.

If you are over the age of 40 and you feel your employers are trying to get you to retire before you should, or are otherwise pushing you out due to your age, please contact us today – don’t delay.

Office of Special Counsel and Inspector Generals

At times, arranging an internal investigation may be more fruitful for an employee than filing a grievance, complaint or appeal of an adverse action – the question most employees have is “how?”  The agency tasked with conducting such investigations, the Office of Special Counsel, is comprised of prosecutors and investigators.  Every agency’s Inspector General provides a similar function. Unfortunately, because the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is required to arrange investigations of complaints of violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act, OSC is frequently not called upon until after a Federal employee has filed a grievance, complaint, or appeal, and the agency has provided its response.   By this time, the Office of Special Counsel’s job becomes a game of distinguishing right and wrong in a battle of “employee-say, agency-say.”

Permitting our attorneys to file the appropriately styled, substantively composed Inspector General or Office of Special Counsel complaint in lieu of, or prior to, filing a grievance, complaint, or appeal, gives the Inspector General or Office of Special Counsel the opportunity to fulfill its true function of independently and surreptitiously conducting undercover investigations and prosecuting confidential complaints.  

Don’t delay – call us today.

U.S. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

In accordance with Executive Order 11246, Federal contractors and subcontractors are prohibited from hiring based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin and are required to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in all aspects of hiring.  The Service Contract Act punishes Federal contractors who withhold monetary compensation from employees.  Federal contractors are required to take affirmative action to employ qualified veterans.  Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that Federal contractors and subcontractors ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans have an equal opportunity for employment. 

These are only a few of the civil rights laws governing the workplace environment with a Federal contractor.

If you are a current or former employee of a government contractor, and you have recently experienced or witnessed any violation of the above regulations, please contact us immediately for a consultation.  Please also contact us if you are a government contractor interested in ensuring your workplace complies with all of the above.

Disability Discrimination

Failure to accommodate for disability is prohibited under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, employers must provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment, unless to do so would constitute an undue hardship.

A disability under the ADA and the 2008 amendments to the ADA is defined as a condition such as cancer, heart disease, or mental illness, even if cured, controlled or in remission, that substantially limits one of several major life activities, including but not limited to walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, working, sitting, standing, lifting, or reading.

An accommodation is any change in the work environment that permits a disabled person to enjoy equal employment opportunities.  The law requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation if the employee requests it. 

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.  If you are disabled (or have been mistreated based on a perception that you are disabled) and you feel that your rights have been violated, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We will help you deal with your workplace legal concerns.