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.

AGENCY PIP DISCRIMINATORY; EMPLOYEE REINSTATED A deaf/Hard of Hearing employee could read lips in one-on-one conversations, but needed an accommodation to participate in group conversations. Consequently, his performance suffered and the agency put him on a PIP, which ended in … Continue reading

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WORKPLACE ROMANCES: HERE ARE THE DATA Forbes Magazine published an article recently entitled “Workplace Romance Statistics.” It delivers a bundle of very sound data showing that organizational leaders that feel a need to stamp out workplace romances are direct descendants … Continue reading

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

CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE GENERATES FIVE YEARS BACK PAY & BOOSTED ANNUITY When does discrimination become so bad that the employee can resign or retire and claim s/he had been constructively discharged?

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WHEN ARE UNION-EMPLOYEE CONVERSATIONS CONFIDENTIAL? The short answer is, “Most times, but not always.”  The FLRA rolled out a decision recently making that crystal clear by endorsing management’s right to force a union representative to reveal to its investigators what … Continue reading

Posted in Union Rights | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHEN MAGIC WORDS ARE NOT NEEDED Must a federal employee specifically utter the magic words “reasonable accommodation” before an agency is responsible for considering the need for a disability-related accommodation?  Here is what EEOC said recently.

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LOOKING BACK TO 2011 Fedsmill.com went live 12 years (and 1,300 posts) ago, which makes it easy to forget some of the information we thought union activists would want. So, we are going to reach back and resurrect posts from … Continue reading

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EMPLOYEE GETS $890,000 FOR SICK BUILDING EXPOSURE A Dep’t. of Agriculture employee informed the agency that the mold spores in the agency building were causing her significant health problems. When she asked for approval for full-time telework it took the … Continue reading

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THIS FLRA DECISION IS POPPYCOCK, DRIVEL, TWADDLE & TOSH A union grieved to block implementation of a new term agreement, portions of which were imposed by FSIP.   FLRA ruled that the union’s grievance was defective because it was “directly” challenging … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Law, FSIP | Tagged | 1 Comment

IF YOU ARE GRIEVING THE LOSS OF TELEWORK… think about the remedy you are requesting.  Whether citing a ULP violation for a failure to bargain to impasse before implementing telework reductions or some contract violation, the simple remedy is that … Continue reading

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THE CARE AND FEEDING OF ARBITRATORS If you understand how hard it is to keep goldfish thriving, then you know something about sustaining arbitrators.  They need constant care and attention throughout a case.  Ignore one tiny detail and your case … Continue reading

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