Case Law Updates

Last week, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a precedential decision holding that Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave requests must be made explicitly and in advance, overturning years of precedent to the contrary, and clarifying the evidentiary standards for “administratively acceptable” evidence

An employee petitioned for review of a Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) decision that denied her request for attorneys’ fees because, after the Agency first appealed an MSPB order declaring her removal unlawful and ordering her to be reinstated with back pay, the Agency voluntarily...

The Civil Service Reform Act (“CSRA”) established a new classification system for federal employees in 1978. The system compartmentalized career civil service employees into three groups: (1) the competitive service; (2) the excepted service; and (3) the senior executive service (SES).

In November 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard an appeal from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to determine whether a petition for enforcement (PFE) of a settlement agreement was timely.

The Fourth Circuit issued a decision on September 9, 2025, holding that states lack Article III standing, and as such also lack the ability to bring a federal lawsuit, alleging harm from the termination of probationary federal employees and requesting the relief of reinstatement.

On March 11, 2025, the Secretary of Education initiated reduction-in-force proceedings, seeking to reduce the Department’s workforce by roughly 50 percent. The President subsequently ordered the Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education” in a March 20,

On June 5, at the end of October 2024 term, the Supreme Court held that majority group members do not need to meet a higher evidentiary standard to demonstrate unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Last month, the Supreme Court issued a decision holding that the right to a jury trial extends to the issue of administrative exhaustion when the exhaustion issue is intertwined with the merits of a claim requiring a jury trial.

The Supreme Court has previously held that when a police officer uses deadly force, he violates the Fourth Amendment when the force used is not “objectively reasonable.” To determine the reasonableness of the force, the Supreme Court requires an assessment of the “totality of the circumstances.”