7 ALTERNATIVE DISCIPLINE: CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR AGENCIES TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCTTHE CHAIRMAN U.S, MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 1615 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20419-0001 July 2008 The President President of the Senate ‘Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dear Sirs and Madam In accordance with the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 1204(a)(3), it is my honor to submit this Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) report, Alternative Discipline: Creative Solutions for Agencies to Effectively Address Misconduct. The purpose of this report is to describe the Federal Government's current use of alternative discipline and alternative discipline’s potential to help agencies better manage their workforces. The merit principles encourage agencies to be effective and efficient in how they use the Federal workforce. This includes the responsibilty to address misconduct in a manner that has the greatest potential to prevent further harm to the efficiency of the service. Under the correct circumstances, alternative discipline may be the most effective method for addressing such misconduct. Our research indicates that few agencies take a comprehensive approach to alternative discipline. Rather, its application appears, in most cases, to be ad hoc use by individual managers, with litte or no formal guidance from the agency. However, in rare situations, agencies set rules that prevent supervisors from being able to make a case-by-case assessment of what approach to discipline may have the greatest potential for success. This report contains recommendations for agencies to empower their supervisors more and provide a greater degree of guidance to supervisors on how they can successfully use alternative discipline, | believe you will find this report useful as you consider issues affecting the Federal Government's ability to effectively manage its workforceALTERNATIVE DISCIPLINE: CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR AGENCIES TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT