White-Collar Crime

One Thing Federal Employees Can Do Before Trump Takes Power

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Capitol US Capitol buildingTomorrow, Donald Trump will become our President.

There are a lot of people who can and should be afraid of that. LGBTQ folks. Anyone not in the country legally. Good people. Anyone who would rather not see the United States default on its debt. China.

One group that should be uniquely afraid: federal workers.

Republicans who have blamed the federal government for the nation’s ills are really excited about having power and are now really excited about taking that power out on federal employees.

House Republicans have already made it easier to reduce the salaries of individual employees who they dislike (from the Washington Post):

House Republicans this week reinstated an arcane procedural rule that enables lawmakers to reach deep into the budget and slash the pay of an individual federal worker — down to $1 — a move that threatens to upend the 130-year-old civil service.

The Trump Administration asked a number of agencies for the names of any employee who worked on climate change, and we can bet that’s not so they can give them a gold star and a cookie for a job well done.

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Much of the anti-federal employee work is being done by Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee of the House. He’d like to make it easier to fire federal employees. (His favorite example is firing them for sexual harassment, though, without meaningful procedural protections, you could imagine Mike Pence alleging that each person at the EPA who worked on climate change sexually harassed him. Poof! There goes science.) He’d like to freeze federal salaries. He’d like to move federal jobs out of DC. (Federal employees’ kids will make new friends in Utah!) He’d like to put in a hiring freeze so that new positions that come open won’t be filled.

This stuff is scary to federal employees — they’ll lose salary increases to keep up with inflation, and their jobs could be at risk. If this stuff passes, the best case is that they have to work more and harder to make up for the positions that aren’t filled.

And, while all of that is real, one thing Chaffetz has talked about should be truly terrifying. He will use his Committee’s power to investigate. And he’ll use it against federal employees.

Chaffetz sent a letter to the head of the Office of Government Ethics, threatening an investigation after the guy questioned Trump’s resolution of his conflicts of interest (as reported by the Times):

Mr. Chaffetz, in his letter, noted his committee’s authority to reauthorize the office, a hint that it could perhaps be shut down. “The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at ‘any time’ investigate ‘any matter’ as set forth in House Rule X,” he wrote.

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Chaffetz knows he has the power to investigate and he’s made it clear he wants to go to town against federal employees. If legislating gets hard — as it inevitably does — there’s legitimate fear among many feds I talk to that he’ll start using his power to investigate instead. You don’t need to make policy that affects everyone to demoralize a workforce; you can just have one high profile and scary example.

I’ve represented federal employees in this spot. It’s terrifying and expensive. You spend decades building a career and a reputation, only to see it trashed by politicians who are interested in little beyond scoring a headline.

So, if you’re a federal employee — especially one who has worked on any number of high profile issues in the Obama administration (climate change comes to mind, among a long list of others) — perhaps now would be a good time to buy insurance.

There’s a company called Federal Employee Defense Services. They offer insurance policies that can provide legal fees if you’re caught up in an investigation. (Full disclosure: my firm represents some clients who have FEDS insurance).

FEDS doesn’t insure your reputation if you’re being targeted by Chaffetz or Trump. But if you’re worried about not being able to afford a lawyer, FEDS take care of that. Because, really, there’s just about nothing you can do to protect yourself from what may be coming.

Matt Kaiser is a white-collar defense attorney at KaiserDillon. He’s represented stockbrokers, tax preparers, doctors, drug dealers, and political appointees in federal investigations and indicted cases. His twitter handle is @mattkaiser. His email is mkaiser@kaiserdillon.com He’d love to hear from you if you’re inclined to say something nice.

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