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.

DO YOU KNOW YOUR VICTIM LAW? When employees are the victim of discrimination, they often have some unusual rights that a union rep might not think of when working out a remedy for a grievant.  For example, EEOC issued a … Continue reading

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GAG ORDERS In our experience, gag orders or anything like that used to stop someone from talking about “bad stuff” that may be happening at the job are terrible.  FEDSWEEK just wrote a short piece on how gag orders imposed … Continue reading

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MENOPAUSE DISCRIMINATION One thing we try to do at Fedsmill is to make union reps aware of new issues developing in the employee and labor rights areas.  For now, we will just call your attention to this article from Forbes … Continue reading

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WHAT DID THIS UNION DO WRONG? Here are the facts.  See if you can figure out two things the union did wrong.  The agency had a practice of placing a guard at each of its strategically important locations around its … Continue reading

Posted in ULPs | Tagged | 1 Comment

CAN UNIONS SACRIFICE RETIRED GRIEVANTS? Every so often we hear from a union officer trying to settle a grievance asking whether s/he can cut out of the deal anyone no longer in the unit, agency, or even federal government. For … Continue reading

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WHICH UNION PROTECTS ITS NON-UNIONIZED STAFF THE BEST We have posted about a half-dozen articles complaining about how fed unions do an absolutely terrible, if not immoral, job protecting staff members not covered by the staff’s collective bargaining unit. (See … Continue reading

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SOME PROBATIONERS JUST GOT A GUT PUNCH Not all feds hold the same job uninterrupted throughout their probationary period.  Some get hired as seasonals to work a few months at a time, get furloughed, and then get called back. Others … Continue reading

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GILBERT & BROIDA RESCUE DISABLED CBP OFFICERS Way back in 2014 we wrote about a Customs and Border Patrol Officer with sleep apnea who asked to not be assigned to night shift or overtime work because his condition required that … Continue reading

Posted in Disability | Tagged | 1 Comment

HOW FAR BACK CAN A BACK PAY CLAIM GO? We are getting questions about how far back an arbitrator can order an agency to grant back pay as if there is some legal limit on it, e.g., do appropriation laws … Continue reading

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NAMING GRIEVANTS: A SOURCE OF UNION POWER  Two members come to you, the union steward, complaining that the manager is no longer following the agreement’s provision about how to distribute overtime and they want to grieve.  After they leave, you … Continue reading

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