Posted on September 22, 2026 by AdminUN

WHY DID NTEU GIVE AWAY ALMOST $700 MILLION OF ITS CBP MEMBERS’ MONEY?

Actually, a guy named Tony gave it away for them, but I will get to that later. As far as I know, the largest arbitration battle in the history of federal sector labor relations ended with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Service required to pay its employees $900 million in back pay, plus interest. I know it was $900 million because CBP attorneys filed briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals confirming that the arbitrations “would require the Government to pay nearly $700 million (plus interest) in back pay awards,” and  “An additional back pay award ordered by the FLRA in a third related case, now pending in the Fourth Circuit, threatens additional liability of nearly $200 million (plus interest).”  (See CBP briefs in Homeland Security v. FLRA, D.C. Cir. No. 15-1351 (March 9, 2016)).  Yet, despite the FLRA and court refusing to overturn the $900 million debt, in the end NTEU agreed to let CBP pay only around $200 million. Given that the court’s decision left CBP no choice but to pay the money, why didn’t the union demand full payment? See if you can figure it out after I give you a few more facts and share my reasoning. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 22, 2026 by AdminUN

11 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE DISABILITY REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION OBLIGATION

While we have posted a bundle of material about the reasonable accommodation obligations, a recent EEO decision spelled them out so clearly, we thought we would outline the law for you.  Here is what EEOC wrote. Continue reading →

Posted in EEO/Disabilities, Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on September 15, 2026 by AdminUN

RETROACTIVE LEAVE VERSUS USE OR USE RULES

What happens when an employee is granted a big chunk of retroactive annual leave pursuant to a grievance, EEO complaint, or other litigation, but it is too late in the leave year for her to use it all.  Does she lose what she can’t use or does the normally powerful use or lose concept bend to avoid her losing any leave? While the resolution might differ depending on the reason the leave was restored, when it is due to illegal discrimination EEOC has made it clear that she is not to lose any of the retroactive leave she was awarded, even if only through a settlement agreement. The commission recently wrote, Continue reading →

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Posted on September 15, 2026 by AdminUN

EXEMPTIONS FROM GROUP MEETINGS

These meetings can border on mental torture triggering thoughts of war crime prosecutions.  But they can also be physical torture for those disabled employees who are often required to put their normal reasonable accommodations on hold.  That is what happened at Pete Hegseth’s shop when an employee was ordered to attend a two-hour meeting even though Pete’s shop would not provide her the normal reasonable accommodations during the meeting that she was entitled to back in her workplace.  While it may only have been a two hour loss of her accommodations, EEOC recently held that violated the disability related laws and regulations. Aside from ordering Warrior Pete and his high testosterone staffers to not do that again it made Pete write the employee a check for over $11,000 to cover the damage.  This is another one of those situations that occurs all too often in the workplace such that unions should make employees aware that, absent an undue hardship, once an accommodation is provided it cannot be put on a temporary hold. For more details, check out Gaynell A., v. Pete Hegseth, Secretary, Dep’t. of War (DLA), EEOC No. 2023004297 (2026)

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Posted on September 15, 2026 by AdminUN

WHEN IS GROUP MEETING CHATTER ILLEGAL?

Managers talk with employees all the time, individually, in regularly scheduled periodic meetings and even informally during breaks.  In my experience, it is not uncommon for an employee to ask a manager about a co-worker’s absence. It is also far too common for a manager to respond telling them that the co-worker is on sick leave due to some medical condition, e.g., pregnancy complications,hemorrhoids, colon problems, etc. While that kind of exchange happens often in federal and other workplaces, the manager violates the law when s/he discloses an absent employee’s medical condition. EEOC just reminded a National Park Service manager of that by finding he had violated the employee’s right to medical privacy by responding in detail to a question under the Rehabilitation Act and ordered the agency to give the employee over $12,000 to make up for that single, and often innocent, disclosure.  This is something unions should make their members very aware of, e.g., email them a copy of this post.   For more details, check out Sadie M., v. Douglas J. Burgum, Secretary, DoI (National Park Service), Agency. Appeal No. 2025002310 (2026).  You can also check out our index under the Medical Issues and Medical Privacy headings.

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Posted on September 10, 2026 by AdminUN

THE COMPLETE LIST OF TELEWORK REMEDIES

Hardly a week goes by without a union reporting a new arbitration decision finding the Trump Administration’s termination of telework agreements and practices illegal. While that is great, union’s need to insist on all the potential remedies that are appropriate to telework terminations. If they are just asking the arbitrator to order the agency cease and desist its termination efforts or to reinstate the prior telework arrangements, they are making a big mistake. There is a lot more to making unit employees whole for the damage done, e.g., back pay and more. So, for those unions waiting for the arbitrator to address the remedies, we thought it would be helpful to list ten or so corrective actions that should be taken. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 9, 2026 by AdminUN

ARE THE DOUGLAS FACTORS DEAD?

That is the title of a post from the folks at the Federal Employment Law Training Group (FELTG). Although the group’s primary mission is to train managers, I thought this post was reasonably balanced and recommend you read it by clicking here. While the initial reaction among most union reps is that termination of the Douglas Factors is terrible news it may be yet another White House screw up ranking up there with the reflecting pool fiasco, the Iranian war that was going to last a week or two, and the nearly trillion dollar tariff refunds.

As the FELTG folks point out, the MSPB reg does not prohibit agencies from continuing to use the Douglas Factors. Consequently, if an agency decides to stop using them, it must serve notice on the union, provide requested information, and complete negotiations before it does so. A failure to do so will undermine any disciplinary actions they take without automatically considering them. I can think of a number of proposals that would make any agency regret a decision to abandon them.

Another problem an agency faces if it abandons them is the mind-boggling ambiguity of the “totality of circumstances” (ToC) test MSPB suggests. That is a litigation storm waiting to happen, e.g., what is and is not included in the agency’s definition of the concept, are they applied uniformly or disparately, if another agency considers different factors under its ToC analysis does that suggest your agency got it wrong, do the pre-CSRA adverse action mitigation factors now apply, etc.? And just imagine the fun a union rep will have when a manager takes the stand and under oath has to explain what factors she considered under the ToC test and why she did not consider all the factors that others are using.

If I was still sitting back advising agency leaders about what to do with this latest stunt from the Mango Marvel’s people, I would tell them “to consider the source” and just hold tight.

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Posted on August 13, 2026 by AdminUN

DOREEN TAKES ON ENTIRE TRUMP FAMILY

I have known her for decades and while I have not always agreed with her decisions, there is no doubt in my mind that she will stand up to and fight anyone who threatens the members of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). Absolutely anyone! Last week she did it by calling out the entire Trump family not only on behalf of her members, but also everyone else in the country who  believes it was illegal for Trump to direct his appointees at the Treasury Department and IRS to give his entire clan immunity from income tax laws. She filed suit in federal court to challenge the legality of the President’s scam. Doreen is Doreen Greenwald, the President of NTEU. She spent most of her career before becoming the union leader at IRS chasing down business owners who tried to evade their tax obligations. Given Trump’s habit of using the government to seek revenge against anyone who offends him, she deserves a bundle of credit. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 11, 2026 by AdminUN

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THOSE ARBITRATION ISSUE STATEMENTS

If you knew there was a child predator wandering the neighborhood you would be extra careful about letting your child leave the house.  Given that Trump has installed two union predators on the FLRA, we need to exercise the same care when we let a grievance leave our control.  FLRA showed that in a new case when it denied a part of a remedy an arbitrator awarded, blaming the union for not having properly written the issue statement. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 5, 2026 by AdminUN

OPM ADDRESSES WHAT IS AND ISN’T STILL NEGOTIABLE ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS

Now that we are moving to a forced distribution rating environment which will require each manager to brand some employees as the worst in the group even if they are performing successfully, OPM has put out its view of what is and isn’t negotiable.  The folks at Federal Managers Daily Report published a helpful piece on the OPM guidance which you can read by clicking here, but remember this is management’s opinion, not labor’s.  I will try to toss out some ideas of what union’s should demand to bargain over in the next few postings.  But in the meantime, think about demanding a deep data analysis of how these ratings are distributed.  If they are anything like how disciplinary actions are taken, minorities will get hit hard.  Similarly, women will likely get placed in the lower tiers more often than men.  This system is ready made for disparate treatment claims.  For example, what happens when a White male and a female Hispanic employee both get an overall Acceptable ratings, but she gets placed in a lower tier? Or even the other way around? There are no criteria for making the distinctions objective, leaving managers to defend their undocumented opinions in a discrimination hearing. The costs of the EEO investigations alone are going to make this a very expensive change–probably even more than the White House disco is costing America.

Posted in EEO/Discrimination, Performance | Tagged | Leave a comment