Missed Deadline Results in Fired City Worker’s Reinstatement

The D.C. Department of Health failed to comply with local rules on employee performance improvement plans and was properly ordered to reinstate a worker it fired, Washington’s top court ruled Thursday.

D.C. Municipal Regulation §1410 allows certain government employees to be placed on a PIP, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals said. But the regulation’s provisions, when read together, set “a two-part timeline” an employer must meet before it can lawfully fire a worker who fails a PIP, the court said.

The city’s Office of Employee Appeals was correct that under a natural reading of those provisions the maximum ...