NELA is collaborating with our allies and coalition partners to provide resources, support, and training for workers’ rights advocates. Drawing upon the expertise of our Federal Sector Practice Group, we have made the following resources available to those who represent federal workers.
NELA
Empowering Workers' Rights Attorneys
Representing Federal Workers
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Representing Federal Sector Employees 101
NELA 2024 Annual Convention
Moderator: Holly V. Franson
Speakers: Sacred B. Huff and Andrew J. Perlmutter
Federal sector workers make up an estimated 1.9% of the United States workforce and work under complex personnel practices and procedures. Learn how you can expand your practice by adding federal sector cases. Our practitioners guide you through the most important basics of tackling a federal sector case and how you can succeed at every stage.
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Holly V. Franson
The Wick Law Office
Holly V. Franson is a Partner with The Wick Law Office and a member of The Wick Law Office’s Reasonable Accommodation Training Group. The focus of her practice is representing federal government employees in complaints of discrimination before the EEOC and in appeals filed with the MSPB. Ms. Franson has represented employees in complex cases involving sexual harassment, failure to provide reasonable accommodations, pregnancy discrimination, and security clearance issues. Her practice also includes representing private sector and other public sector employees in a variety of employment matters. She writes and speaks frequently on issues of discrimination in the workplace and is the co-author of the Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity Practice Guide, which is published by LexisNexis and in its seventh edition. Ms. Franson received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Colorado. She currently serves as co-chair of NELA’s federal sector practice group.
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Sacred B. Huff
Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C.
Sacred B. Huff, an Associate at Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C. in Washington, D.C., is a fierce advocate for workers’ rights and economic justice. Sacred has launched her legal career with a mission to impact society by representing employees who have suffered discrimination or unfair labor practices. Sacred is particularly interested in representing individuals who have experienced race-based hair discrimination. Sacred graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a B.A. in sociology and obtained her J.D. from George Washington University Law School. In law school, Sacred earned awards for her dedication to racial and social justice issues. The GW Law faculty chose Sacred for the Justice Thurgood Marshall Civil Liberties Award as a member of the graduating class who demonstrated outstanding dedication to civil rights and civil liberties. Sacred’s peers selected her for the Michael Dillon Cooley Memorial Award, which honors the graduate who best maintained compassion, vitality, and humanity during law school. These two awards recognized Sacred’s unwavering devotion to justice, truth, and humanity, which she exhibited through her service and civic work above and beyond academic studies and internships. Sacred has been recognized in the Lawyers of Color Annual Hot List for 2022 for her commitment to promoting diversity in the legal profession and her passionate advocacy for workplace justice. In her leisure time, Sacred enjoys writing fiction, boxing, playing basketball, catching Pokémon, and traveling the world.
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Andrew J. Perlmutter
Gilbert Employment Law, P.C.
Andrew J. Perlmutter is a counsel at Gilbert Employment Law, P.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland, focusing his practice on federal-sector employment law. Andrew was a principal at Passman & Kaplan, Washington, D.C., before it merged with Gilbert Employment Law in 2021, focusing on federal-sector employment law. Before coming to Passman & Kaplan in 2007, Andrew was an associate at Melehy & Associates in Silver Spring, focusing on federal-sector employment law. Andrew co-chairs NELA’s Federal Employee Rights Practice Group, chairing the Practice Group’s Rulemaking Committee, and is the federal employee rights liaison to NELA’s Amicus Advisory Committee. He is a board member at his local NELA affiliate (Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association (MWELA)). Andrew co-chairs the ABA’s Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice, Government Personnel Committee. He is a co-author of the Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide (3rd edition), and writes and lectures on areas of federal-sector employment law.
Issue Spotting & Election of Remedies in Federal Sector Cases
NELA 2024 Seminar: Representing Federal and Public Sector Workers
Moderator: Ricardo J.A. Pitts-Wiley
Speakers: Susan E. Jewell & Richard R. Renner
This panel will focus on issue spotting and procedural choices you need to make—tips and traps in elections of remedies—when representing federal employees. We will review advantages and limitations of various options and claims to help you decide what the possible choices are, and aren’t, when pursuing remedies for your clients.
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Susan E. Jewell
The Law Office of Susan Elizabeth Jewell
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Ricardo J.A. Pitts-Wiley
Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C.
Ricardo J.A. Pitts-Wiley is a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based Federal Practice Group on the firm’s federal employment law team. He has over 15 years of experience in the areas of federal sector employment and labor law. He chiefly provides representation to federal employees in a wide range of employment and labor matters, including discrimination, harassment, reasonable accommodation, family and medical leave, performance-based actions, employee benefits, security clearance, whistleblower retaliation and inspector general investigations. Numerous times, he has practiced before and achieved successful outcomes through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, as well as before federal district courts.
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Richard R. Renner
Richard R. Renner is the semi-retired principal of Tate & Renner (www.taterenner.com). He previously worked as a Partner at Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C., in Washington, DC (www.kcnfdc.com), and as Legal Director of the National Whistleblowers Center. He has served NELA as co-chair of the Whistleblower Committee, a member of NELAʼs Ethics and Sanctions Committee and as a member of the Executive Board. He co-wrote amicus briefs for NELA in Lawson v. FMR LLC, 571 U.S. 429 (2014); Garner v. Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, 554 F.3d 624 (6th Cir. 2009); Lucas v. Duncan, 574 F.3d 772 (D.C. Cir. 2009); and Day v. Department of Homeland Security, 2013 MSPB 49 (Section 101 of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act has retroactive application). In semi-retirement, he has written additional amicus briefs and regulatory comments, and has volunteered with the Emergency Worker Organizing Committee (EWOC) (workerorganizing.org). He enjoys zumba, BodyPump and unicycling.
Effective Discovery Techniques When a Public Entity is Your Adversary
NELA 2024 Seminar: Representing Federal and Public Employees
Speakers: Holly V. Franson & Heather Newsom Leonard
Gain tips and strategies to make the most of the discovery process, including obtaining public records and other ESI, when your adversary is a public entity. Our speakers will discuss the nuances of discovery in both federal employee and non-federal public employee cases and how these types of cases differ from private sector litigation.
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Holly V. Franson
The Wick Law Office
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Heather Newsom Leonard
Heather Leonard, PC
Consistently recognized as one of the top employment lawyers in Alabama, Heather Leonard has been handling employment law matters for employees since 1998. She has been ranked as one of the Top 25 female attorneys as well as one of the Top 50 overall attorneys in Alabama by Thompson Reuters’ SuperLawyers publication. She has an A-V rating through Martindale Hubble. Her firm has also been ranked as a Tier One provider of employment law services by U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Law Firms.”
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