I'd be glad to the minute you point to where I said how easy it was to fire a federal employee.

I'll agree that it is generally more difficult to terminate a public employee (federal or otherwise) than it is to terminate an at-will private sector employee.

But more difficult, being a relative statement is, not the same as a difficult.

One of the things supervisors are supposed to do is watch employees carefully during their probationary period, so they can identify poor performers while it's easier to get rid of them, before they fall under the regular system, and before they get more entrenched in the workplace and responsible for more things that they can screw up or that will be left hanging if their performance slides and you have to fire them.

To add to this, most employers in the private sector do not have probationary periods for their employees, or if they do, the "passing" the probationary period doesn't impact their otherwise "at will" status. The end result of this is that private sector employers don't have the pressure to seriously and properly evaluate employees during some probationary period. They are not under a deadline to terminate an employee who doesn't fit before that employee passes the probationary period. So I suspect this would mean that public sector employees are more likely to be terminated earlier in their employment, when doing so is easier, than you might see in the private sector.

Yeah, like I said, I'm not defending the system as being really good. Just countering the popular myth that federal employees can't be fired. I agree that there are changes that can be made to make the system more effective and efficient while maintaining the protections that we want these employees to have. However, we do have to balance those two objectives. I don't think we really want the federal civilian workforce to be subject to the political whims of changing administrations.

I'll agree with this. As I mentioned, public sector employees get fired all the time, and it's largely a myth that they can't be fired. (Permanent/regular certificate K-12 teachers in California are another matter.)

My experience is that the difficulties in terminating public sector employees can largely, but not completely, be attributed to poor management or lack of will.

I'll also relate back to my experience that a majority of public sector employees when faced with a potential termination either resign or retire, in which case the event is not recorded as an involuntary termination. That's far from the case in the private sector. But this phenomenon skews the data.

Sorry dude, any process that takes at absolute minimum 170 days is difficult. The appeal process alone can take 243 days to adjudicate. I stated it was "well nigh impossible" to fire a federal worker based on my watching and talking with GS-14s and -15s talk about just that; you said I was wrong with zero rationale beyond that. Your notion that it isn't difficult to can a federal worker for performance is just plain wrong.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Yes, don't disagree. I should be more specific when I say my experience is with DoD civilians. That being said, I would not be at all surprised if there were similar issues with other federal agencies.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.