Monthly Archives: June 2013

BARGAINING WITH JERKS – #1 (Information Access) There are a lot of different types of negotiators on the management side of the table and one of them deserves to be labeled The Jerk. This is the person who has come … Continue reading

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HOW TO MEASURE MANAGEMENT UNFAIRNESS Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a way to measure how unfair agency policies or practices are, especially if the measure was widely recognized as having evidentiary value? Of course it would because union … Continue reading

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION SUGGESTIONS When management denies a disabled employee’s preferred accommodation, it helps to know what other accommodations are commonly granted in similar situations. It turns out that is easy to do. There is a web site that lists them. … Continue reading

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INTERMITTENT FMLA REQUESTS CAN BE TRICKY—FOR MANAGEMENT What if an employee’s MD certified that due to the employee’s chronic but intermittent illness he is likely to be absent for five periods of two to three days each every six months, … Continue reading

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WHEN DO YOU OWN A PROMOTION? By “own” we mean when must management use full adverse action procedures against you to take a promotion away? MSPB has changed its mind on when in the last year, which makes this important … Continue reading

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WHEN OSTRACISM AND PETTY MISTREATMENT CREATE A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT Every once in a while union reps run across an employee that a manager hates to deal with. The law firm of Ogletree and Deakins just published advice on when that … Continue reading

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WHY UNION REPS NEED LAWYERS HANDY FEDSMILL makes no secret of the fact that we think unions have to reorganize themselves in order to make attorneys more available to local chapter presidents and chief stewards. We even believe that organized … Continue reading

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FLRA PUBLISHES GUIDE TO NEGOTIABILITY Our congrats to FLRA Member Dubester for keeping FLRA active while we await Carol Pope’s Senate confirmation.  The FLRA just issued a Guide to Negotiability that any union negotiators should print and read.

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TEST YOURSELF- FMLA, DISABILITIES, AND LIGHT DUTY An employee, Jessie Crutch, had a long-time reasonable accommodation of being allowed to rest his hip for a few minutes every few hours while working as a warehouse custodian.  As the injury got … Continue reading

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WHAT IS FRONT PAY? Let’s say that you are representing a terminated employee and realize three things about his/her situation.  First, the job the employee held before being fired no longer exists.  Second, even if you get the employee reinstated, it … Continue reading

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