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.

DOL ISSUES FMLA GUIDANCE ON CARING FOR ADULT CHILDREN FMLA is available to care for adult children over 18 or older if the child is physically or mentally disabled.  The Dept. of Labor has just issued guidance on how that … Continue reading

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ATTENTION PROBATIONERS! A while ago we outlined 16 different ways a probationary employee can challenge his/her termination even though the urban legend is that probationers have no rights and there is nothing a union can do for them.  Check out … Continue reading

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FUBAR: FSIP’S UNICORN The Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) has a unicorn that it treasures.  While the members prefer to call it their “demonstrated need criterion,” that label is merely to obscure outsiders from seeing clearly that there is nothing … Continue reading

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FSIP SUPPORTS UNION DEMAND FOR TAX FREE-EMPLOYEE PARKING Just as the tax law permits employees to shelter from taxes the cost of dependent care via a Flexible Spending Account or 125 Plan, it also permits employees who pay parking fees to get to work … Continue reading

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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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