Webinar: Inside Santos v. NASA

Inside Santos v. NASA: The Landmark Decision Requiring Agency Justification of a PIP
Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 1:00pm EDT
Presented by the law firm of Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C.

In this live webinar, an attorney from Shaw Bransford & Roth, the firm which served as court appointed amicus curiae counsel in Santos, will explain the Federal Circuit's holding and its practical application for agencies and federal managers.

For over 40 years since the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act, federal agencies have not been required to justify the imposition of a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) in employee appeals of performance-based removals. While employees were free to challenge their removal for purported failure on a PIP, the MSPB did not require agencies to prove the employee should have been on a PIP in the first place.

On March 11, 2021, in a landmark opinion, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, contrary to decades of MSPB rulings, the plain language of a statutory provision of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 required the agency to establish that an employee had unsatisfactory performance both before and during the PIP.

NASA did not file a petition for rehearing, so the March 11, 2021 opinion in Santos v. NASA remains the law.

Shaw Bransford & Roth served as court appointed amicus curiae counsel to brief a statutory interpretation question from the position of employee-petitioner Fernando Santos. Debra L. Roth, Conor D. Dirks, and James P. Garay Heelan, attorneys of Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C., briefed the issue from the employee’s position for the court.

The court adopted that position in its opinion. Attorney Conor Dirks will be hosting this webinar.