Monthly Archives: March 2023

YODA, KING SOLOMON & ARBITRATORS In my experience, most arbitrators see themselves as the fruit of a mythical, time-travel-assisted coupling of Yoda and the infamous baby-splitting King Solomon.  Their wisdom and power are, therefore, boundless.  Yet, they do not seem … Continue reading

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WHEN DINOSAURS DECIDE FULL-TIME TELEWORK REQUESTS With our apologies to the dinosaur community, we have to say we immediately thought of the stereotypical behemoths when we read about an agency official who decided that “telework was not an entitlement” and … Continue reading

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations | Leave a comment

WHITE HOUSE LISTS CHANGES IT’S SEEKING IN FEDERAL EMPLOYEE BENEFITS Fedweek.com posted a very readable piece about how the Biden White House wants to improve federal employee benefits. Thought you might be interested.  Click here to leap to their article.

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AGENCY’S PRE-SELECTION SCAMMERS SNARED I am sure union reps have seen these same facts hundreds of times in their own agencies.  Management announced a promotion opportunity, and after it passed over the person EEOC ultimately declared to be “vastly superior” … Continue reading

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“INTERIM RELIEF” MEANS MONEY A VA employee was fired from his job, appealed to MSPB, and the Administrative Judge ordered that he be granted “interim relief.” That is what the Board calls it when the agency is ordered to put … Continue reading

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SHOULD I RUN FOR NATIONAL UNION PRESIDENT? The current president of one of the major federal employee unions has just announced he is not going to run for another term. That has probably set off a firestorm of interest among … Continue reading

Posted in Union Politics | Tagged | 2 Comments

LACTATION QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU CALL IT WHEN… …(a) management was unable to give an employee access to the lactation room, forcing her to go home on leave to express, (b) management let employees use the lactation room as a … Continue reading

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CALLING ALL UNION FMLA SPECIALISTS A number of unions have one person designated to help members who encounter problems getting their Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights respected. Those representatives need all the help they can get to deal with … Continue reading

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HOW TO BEAT A “LACK OF CANDOR” DISCIPLINE CHARGE MSPB has a long record of terminating employees not just for making outright false statements, but also for failing to volunteer information about an incident that management did not even ask … Continue reading

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IRS APPLICANT GETS 11 YEARS BACK PAY, LEAVE, & A JOB Back in 2012 IRS informed an Africa-American applicant he was conditionally selected for a vacancy and gave him a preemployment background form to complete.  When he noted that he … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Discrimination | Tagged | Leave a comment