Posted on May 23, 2026 by AdminUN

NFFE’S CRUSADE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

NFFE could have just let it slide as yet another act of insanity by a Trump appointee in an ever-growing line of them.  But we all owe the union thanks for taking on this fight against right-wing Christian zealots using government time, facilities and money to proselytize.  The best place to begin this story is with a message the Secretary of Agriculture sent out a few ago that sparked a lawsuit from NFFE.

Team USDA,

Happy Easter – He is Risen indeed!

Today we celebrate the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind.

From the foot of the Cross on Good Friday to the stone rolled away from the now empty tomb, sin has been destroyed. Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life. And where there is life — risen life—there is hope.

No matter the very real trials and hardships we face, fear and sin and death do not get the last word. Because on Easter morning, “Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.” Now that is reason to rejoice!

And so like the very first disciples to encounter our risen Lord in the Upper Room almost two thousand years ago, this Easter let us too be alive with hope, full of Paschal joy, and confident in the mission each of us has been called for.

Please know how amazed and grateful I am for the hard work each of you do to support our shared mission here at USDA. I hope you and your loved ones have a truly blessed and happy Easter. May God continue to bless you, your families, and our exceptional country, One Nation, Under God.

Sincerely, Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

In other words, all you Jews, Islamists, Hindi, Buddhist, and particularly you Atheists, get with the program.  It may be a subtle message, but it is a clear, i.e., on “Team USDA…we celebrate the foundation of OUR faith.” Christianity and Christians occupy a higher step on the prestige ladder in Agriculture than the rest of you. Don’t hold  your breath waiting for a similar message from the boss on Yom Kippur, the Day of Arafah, Diwali, Visak, or Darwin Day.  And it will not hurt if you show up at promotion interviews wearing a little gold cross necklace, or sport an ash smug on your forehead on Ash Wednesday, or make the sign of the cross at the beginning of every staff meeting.

As NFFE correctly notes, under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 1962; County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 1989), official communications from a federal agency cannot promote or endorse a particular religion. In a just world, the Secretary will be required to issue an apology, reimburse the Department for all the time lost by employees stopping work to read her message, and then refer herself to the Special Counsel for discipline. Perhaps someone will even find a way to get compensatory financial damages for all Ag employees base don the Sefcretary’s discimination.

We all owe NFFE for not letting this slip by.

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Posted on May 23, 2026 by AdminUN

INFERTILITY AND THE AGENCY’S LEGAL OBLIGATION

We read a few employment law blogs each week and like to pass along those that might be of  interest to federal sector union leaders. The folks at the Ogletree Deakins Law Firm have put together a memo for managers that does a fair job of explaining  what employer’s owe employees seeking accommodations for fertility treatment. It is something we suggest you try to pass along to your members because you never know who might benefit from this information.  You can find the post at Supporting Employees Through Infertility: Legal Obligations and Accommodations

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Posted on May 14, 2026 by AdminUN

PROBATIONER GETS FIVE YEARS BACK PAY PLUS

She wasn’t asking a lot nor for anything that other feds have not requested thousands of times. Still in her probationary period, she asked for a reasonable accommodation and backed it up with substantial medical documentation. The agency took some steps to get her to  a different vacant position that fit her needs, but ultimately rejected her claiming that the job required certain physical abilities that were essential to performing successfully that the employee did  not have.  So, it terminated her in June 2021. All of that would have been within the agency’s  legal rights except for the fact that it made up the so-called required physical demands out of thin air.  It was a total fiction.  When the employee’s discrimination case got to EEOC, it wrote the following: Continue reading →

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Posted on May 14, 2026 by AdminUN

THIS IS WHAT MERIT PROMOTION RACISM LOOKS LIKE

We have reported on a number of cases where the EEOC found the agency’s promotion process to be irrational, nonsensical or worse.  Generally, that is based on scoring decisions that are outright ridiculous.  Sadly, it is too polite to declare that the scoring decisions were based on blatant racism, sexism, etc.  But few cases are as obvious as this one and provide as good a guide for employees or their representatives on how to dissect a merit system scoring process. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 20, 2026 by AdminUN

USING THE BIBLE AS A HARASSMENT TOOL

(While Secretary Hegseth is prone to confusing Quinton Tarantino with the word of God and Trump is preparing to read us all a bible passage, we thought it would be a good time to republish this post from 2023.)

EEOC just explained to the Dep’t. of Veteran Affairs how quoting the bible at the workplace can violate an employee’s civil rights. It wrote, “the use of a Bible verse, alone, in the context of condemnation of sexual identity is sufficient to rise to the level of harassment.” In other words, if one or more co-workers are taunting an employee about their sexual orientation and among the taunts is a posted or orally repeated bible quote, then someone likely is about to be disciplined while the agency islikely to be writing the employee a check for the harm done. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 20, 2026 by AdminUN

SOMETHING TO TELL MEMBERS ABOUT ALLERGIES

While they are not the most burdensome medical disabilities, seasonal allergies can slow an employee down, even fog their thinking, and tire them out quickly. That entitles employees to the protection of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act and particularly to reasonable accommodations. The folks at the law firm Ogletree Deakins just posted some advice for its employer clients on their responsibilities under the Act entitled, “Allergy Season Is Here: Accommodating Seasonal Allergies Under the ADA.”  It is just as helpful for union reps. Another very helpful site is run by the Job Accommodation Network. They provide advice about what kind of accommodations should be considered. And don’t forget about the FMLA if the employee has a dependent that needs care to get through the allergy season, perhaps a child that can’t attend school for a day or two. In case you do not remember us saying this before, we will repeat it.  One of the most valuable things a union has to offer is information useful to members.  Everyone can use that and providing a steady stream of it to your members is a ready answer to the perennial question of, “What has the union done for me lately?”  The American education system has done a great job of teaching school kids about foreign wars, high literature, and a few math tricks they may never use again.  However, it has been an absolute failure at teaching our country’s future workforce about the rights they have once they begin their likely 50-year journey as employees.  Unions can make up for that.

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Posted on April 8, 2026 by AdminUN

OPM LACKEYS ARE ASKING FOR EMPLOYEE MEDICAL RECORDS

CBS News just reported that Donald’s OPM, which rarely misses an opportunity to abuse federal employees, now wants to know about the prescriptions you are taking and any prescribed treatments.  We suggest you read it in their own words by clicking here. Given that CBS news has recently morphed into a Trump PR machine, firing Stephen Colbert for criticizing the Pres—and we would not be surprised if it is letting Little Boy Barron review all copy before it is released, we worry that Trump’s plan is even worse than CBS describes.  So, here is another one that unions will need to fight in court and Congress on behalf of the erectile disfunction community, the STD sufferers, those under psychiatric care, the depressed, and even those who just want to keep their toe fungus to themselves, etc.

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Posted on April 8, 2026 by AdminUN

AGENCIES TO PAY REINSTATED EMPLOYEES’ BACK TAXES

Our good friends at Dewey Publications just posted a story about how MSPB will now allow reinstated employees to receive money beyond their back pay due if the lump sum raises their income taxes.  We recommend you read the Dewey post by clicking here to see how the employee got another $64,000 on top of her back pay. This decision makes it clear that arbitrators can do the same thing and that unions should pursue this remedy when grieving/arbitrating terminations, demotions,  or long suspensions. They need not specifically request it so long as they authorize the arbitrator to grant “all appropriate remedies.” If you are unfamiliar with why you do that, read through our post entitled, “Grievance Strategy Issues- Part 5 (Remedies)”

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Posted on April 1, 2026 by AdminUN

THE KINGDOM OF NTEU – Part II

This series is about how the NTEU Constitution & Bylaws grants the union’s president almost unlimited power, leaves members with few ways to check the abuse of that power, and creates an environment in which the NTEU leader can rule more as a king than a democratic president. This edition addresses how powerless the NTEU national executive board is. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 1, 2026 by AdminUN

WHAT DO SELECTING OFFICIALS OWE BQ CANDIDATES?  A LOT!

The White House’s contempt for the rights of anyone but white males seems to be talking hold at the EEOC. From  reading its most recent decisions, I would not be surprised if the members wear white sheets and hoods when they convene. So, if you are going to challenge a non-selection for promotion decision in this age of the Aryans you had better build your case atop of some very substantial case law precedent. Below we have reposted an explanation of the legal precedents most supportive of a challenge. Continue reading →

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