Whether you regulate products, businesses, financial and securities matters, nuclear facilities, housing, etc., you are enforcing these compliances for a very important public policy reason. If it is perceived that you or your agency has failed in its regulatory mission, you can be certain that there will be a demand of accountability from the public, Congress or even within your own agency.

This takes the form of investigations and/or proposed disciplinary action(s), as well as possible civil suits and/or criminal investigations. And assuming these matters will be automatically dismissed or defended against by your agency would be a mistake.

FEDS professional liability insurance specifically protects federal employees and allows for affordable legal representation and indemnity protection for those circumstances in which federal employees may be held personally liable and has to provide their own defense - even though they were within their scope of employment or rendering a professional federal service. For coverage effective today, purchase PLI now.

Allegations of wrongdoing by federal employees performing or supporting a regulatory mission vary depending on the regulatory agency. Below are just some of the most publicized and/or the most obvious example(s) of scrutiny, criticisms, or accountability demands that could result in complaints, allegations, civil suits and/or criminal prosecutions.

• SEC employees: are subjected to increased scrutiny as a result of highly publicized regulatory failures such as the Bernie Madoff case and other high profile investigations. Despite the great difficulty that dedicated SEC employees face in trying to uncover regulatory and criminal violations, failures in your regulatory duties, regardless of the reason, could result in an investigation, proposed disciplinary action, and in some cases the potential of a civil action.
• Other U.S Financial Regulatory System employees: Federal officials have taken unprecedented steps to address the regulatory structure of the financial system in order to improve service to the public, strengthen confidence and trust in the performance of the government, and ensure the ability of government to deliver on its promises. When the GAO ('the investigative arm of Congress' and 'the Congressional watchdog') identifies an agency or system as high risk (U.S. Financial Regulatory System) which in some cases, is due to greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, expect to see its analysts, auditors, lawyers, economists, information technology specialists and investigators. Failures in your regulatory duties, regardless of the reason, could result in an investigation, proposed disciplinary action, and in some cases the potential of a civil action.
• NRC employees: failure to safeguard sensitive information, approving or not approving upcoming site permits or license requests; failure to ensure the public's health and safety, the common defense and security, and the environment in the public's use of source, byproduct, and special nuclear materials subjects the NRC and its employees to allegations, investigations, inquires from the Congressional appropriations committees, the GAO, the NRC IG, as well as complaints by the nuclear industry and public.
• FDA employees: GAO has designated the FDA as a high risk area due to concerns about its ability to fulfill its mission of ensuring the safety and efficacy of drugs, biologics, and medical devices. The GAO and others have advised that the agency is facing significant challenges that compromise its ability to protect Americans from unsafe and ineffective products. This environment may spark new and old criticisms made by the public, Congress, and other stakeholders resulting in FDA employee scrutiny.
• FAA employees: can expect continued attention from the executive branch and Congress to strengthen the public's confidence and trust in performance and accountability to ensure air traffic safety. New policy changes, politically charged responses, and accountability demands for the decisions made before, during and after each new FAA-related incident could lead to an Accountability Board of Investigation, an Office of Security Investigation, an Office of Special Counsel complaint/investigation, or a Congressional investigation and/or proposed disciplinary action.
• Department of Housing and Urban Development: allegations of deficient monitoring of lenders, deficient monitoring of contract performance, failure to take remedial action, oversight of pre-endorsement contractors, and entering inaccurate information into the automated tracking system have all lead to increased risks of fraud, waste and abuse and are examples of actions that have lead to allegations, investigations, civil and criminal actions.
• Department of Energy: management and oversight failures, failures to prevent unintended public disclosure of U.S. nuclear sites and activities, failure to ensure uninterrupted production of components, failure to ensure safe transportation of radioactive materials, failure to ensure public safety against high-level nuclear weapons are all serious allegations that could lead to allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct, investigations and/or proposed disciplinary actions.
• EPA employees: Congress is continually prompted by public health and environmental groups to investigate EPA actions or inactions to protect children from harmful exposures and to limit public exposure to many chemicals that may pose substantial health risk. Expect increased scrutiny by the GAO, Congress and others since EPA was added to the high risk list. Failures of EPA's processes for assessing and controlling toxic chemicals and to increase the transparency of the Integrated Risk Information system to enhance EPA's ability under the Toxic Substances Control Act to obtain health and safety information from the chemical industry will result in investigations and proposed disciplinary action. Also, requests for investigations and lawsuits will continue by interest groups challenging the process and pace of EPA especially when the health of children and/or communities is at risk due to a system failure, oversight, lack of action of delay of action.
• APHIS employees: oversight causing increased vulnerabilities to foreign pests and diseases, and allegations of misconduct in evaluating proposals or awarding contracts could lead to allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct, investigations and/or proposed disciplinary action. Failures to ensure the protection of animal and public health can and do lead to allegations, investigations, proposed disciplinary actions, and even civil actions.
• USDA/FSIS employees: failures to ensure imported food safety, an oversight or error in making serious food product recalls, and failure to efficiently and effectively handle recalls particularly affecting schools due to the higher risk of complications from food-borne illnesses in young children, are certain to attract public scrutiny resulting in allegations of wrongdoing, investigations, proposed disciplinary actions and/or even civil lawsuits.

See articles and links for examples of some highly publicized cases.

Of particular importance to EPA, SEC, and Department of Energy employees - pollution, nuclear and other typical “exclusions” that you see in most insurance policies specifically do not apply to a FEDS policy holder when it is part of that 'insured members' job to work within the excluded area (i.e. pollution exclusion does not apply to an EPA employee, a securities exclusion does not apply to a SEC employee, and a nuclear exclusion does not apply to a DOE employee).

Defending against allegations of misconduct or other wrongdoing is difficult and in many cases requires federal employees to hire and pay for outside legal counsel - even if the allegation is ultimately disproved. Having an attorney experienced in federal matters to advise you of your legal rights and obligations and also the parameters of the law under which you've been accused is imperative in the initial investigative stages.

When it comes to your livelihood and financial security, having an attorney experienced in federal matters to advise you of your legal rights and obligations and also the parameters of the law under which you've been accused is imperative in the initial investigative stages. Access to an attorney would also:

• defend against allegations;
• prepare you for the agency administration or investigation process;
• attend the investigative interview with you; and
• defend you in any resulting disciplinary action (both at the agency level and at the MSPB).

Employees and managers can also be exposed to civil suits and criminal investigations, albeit at a much lesser degree than the administrative exposures. These civil suits are typically called Bivens actions and the DOJ has the discretion as to whether or not it will defend you in a personal capacity lawsuit arising out of your scope of employment. Employees of regulatory agencies can also be investigated criminally for even the most trivial matters and false allegations. See Civil Exposures and Criminal Exposures for additional information about civil and criminal exposures.

FEDS panel of attorneys has successfully defended federal employees in a variety of investigations and disciplinary cases including OIG, GAO, OSC, EEO, and Congressional investigations; and other federal and private-sector employment disputes. Some have had professional liability insurance in place and some haven't. If it happens to you, having liability insurance will ensure that a complete legal defense is not cost prohibitive.

The FEDS PLI policy also offers all federal employees up to two free ½ hour legal consultations with an attorney experienced in the areas of federal personnel and employment law for matters not covered by the liability insurance. At $270 per year (or $11 on our bi-weekly payroll deduction plan) for our minimum coverage limit, there is no reason not to have career and financial security protections in place.

Federal managers are eligible for agency reimbursement up to 1/2 the cost of the professional liability insurance for a net cost of only $135 a year after reimbursement for our minimum coverage limit. You may also want to view the Executives and Managers Overview for additional PLI exposures and benefits information. FEDS is exclusively endorsed by the Senior Executives Association (SEA), the Professional Managers Association (PMA), and the Federal Managers Association (FMA). If you are a member of one of these associations, you may want to contact them for your FEDS discount code.

Maneuvering the investigative process without legal counsel is not recommended by the leading federal associations and law firms representing federal employees. Please read what these associations and other industry leaders have to say about professional protection and why they endorse FEDS over all other professional liability carriers.

FEDS founder is a former federal employee who has defended federal employees in private practice. He encourages all federal employees to be as informed as possible about the benefits of having PLI protection in place. Read more about how and why FEDS got started here. And if you can't find answers to your questions in Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's), please call us at 301-229-2481.