Author Archives: AdminUN

About AdminUN

FEDSMILL staff has over 40 years of federal sector labor relations experience on the union as well as management side of the table and even some time as a neutral.

WHAT UNION REPS CAN DO THAT EMPLOYEES CAN’T All employees do not have equal legal rights.  Union representatives have far more rights than most.  In fact, they have far more rights than the average manager. So, if you hear anyone … Continue reading

Posted in Membership Building | Tagged | Leave a comment

NTEU PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN BEGINS The Washington Post carried a nice piece March 9th about the retiring NTEU National President, but the bigger news may be what it did not address, namely, the campaign to replace her.  The first announced candidates appear to … Continue reading

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | Leave a comment

DEPRESSION AS A MITIGATION FACTOR A recent MSPB decision further validated that an employee’s depression is a legitimate mitigation factor in personal actions, even if it does not become known until after the action was taken.

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged , | Leave a comment

EEOC SPEAKS TO BACK PAY TAX LIABILITIES Here is a very interesting case from EEOC in which it ordered a federal agency not only to reimburse an employee for any extra tax liability flowing from a large back pay check, … Continue reading

Posted in Remedies | Tagged | Leave a comment

THE ELAW ADVISOR As we have said before, several federal agencies have developed what we will call “A-Z Indexes” to simplify a user’s search for HR/ER/LR information.  Typically, these indexes pull together the most important information a user might need … Continue reading

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | Leave a comment

MODEL LOCAL WEBSITES NFFE’s Local 1998 at the Passport Service, AFGE’s Councils in the Bureau of Prisons, HUD and VA, all qualify as models against any criteria.  They have up to date news, helpful pages, easy to digest layouts, and … Continue reading

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | Leave a comment

PRESIDENT KELLEY RETIRES FROM NTEU Colleen Kelley, a fixture around NTEU for decades, announced today that she will leave office this August. She first made an impact as president of the NTEU IRS chapter in Pittsburgh, PA where she nearly … Continue reading

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | 1 Comment

MARYLAND LAWYER SAVES BREASTFEEDING CBP OFFICER Socorro Thome was a trained and experienced Customs and Border Protection Officer (CBPO) in the tough port of El Paso, Texas when she became pregnant in November 2010.  At that point, she began light … Continue reading

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action | Tagged | Leave a comment

GRIEVANCE DRAFTING TIPS 4, 5, & 6 Before we turn to three other parts of a grievance where you can boost its winning potential and impact, remember this.  If you were unable to draft the grievance broadly enough during the … Continue reading

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment

GRIEVANCE DRAFTING TIPS 1, 2 & 3 Most contracts merely require the union to put the following in the grievance: 1- Article and section violated, 2- Description of the grieved event, and 3- Remedy desired.   As clear as that or … Continue reading

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment