Question:
I am a former Guardsman,I enlisted in TX but since my husband got orders to KS, I transferred to the ANG of that state. I worked 4 years there as a technician, which is full-time civilian, one weekend a month military. Over a yaer ago, my husband got orders to Sheppard AFB in TX and we started to think maybe it was time for me to start applying to not only that location but also places where I could continue to develop my civilian career as a 100% DoD civilian and where we could be for his upcoming retirement. His orders to Sheppard ended up getting cancelled, I ended getting a paid internship in Florida. I am on a probationary period for the first 2 years, I already completed year 1. But after being here for a year without my husband, he;'s still in KS, I asked my Commander if he could do anything to find out if there is a vacancy for my husband in the active duty component of our base (he offered that if I needed help with that, he could look into it). This week, he let me know they didn;t have anything available under his AFSC and he also mentioned that as a civilian, I already knew I was coming to FL without my husband and that I still agreed to come.
These are my questions: do you happen to know if there is any regulation or guidance that says that as a civilian I could not ask if they could find a spot for my husband in the same base where I am? Can they try to use that against me to fire me? Or to not give me a permament appointment as a federal employee? Basically, this whole "the civilian already knew about this situation when she accepted the job" was mentioned to me and to my husband's chain of command. But I am just making sure I have enough information on this topic. I did Personnel, Finance as a military member and now I am in Contracting as civilian. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing that says I couldn't pop that question but I am not 100% sure if they can use that against me and I'm just trying to get familiar to many resources as I can, Thank you in advance Jim
Jim's Reply:
I can't answer that because I don't have a feel for what your work environment is like. If you're in a hostile environment where your job is in jeopardy, you should maintain as low a profile as you can and not make waves...if you want to keep the job. If your work environment is good, you probably didn't upset anything by asking a harmless and reasonable question. Ultimately though...you knew you'd be separated so everyone expects you to live with your decision.
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