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.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION: HERE IS SOMETHING WE HAVE NOT SEEN BEFORE EEOC just blessed the idea that while an employee who has requested a reasonable accommodation waits for that accommodation to be provided it is equally reasonable for the employee to … Continue reading

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WHAT UNIONS ALMOST ALWAYS MISS TARGETING WITH FRIENDLY WHITE HOUSES History has shown that when there is a union-friendly President in the White House federal sector unions usually want on three things, i.e., 1- new appointees to the FLRA, 2- … Continue reading

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HERE IS HOW TOUGH EEOC (& UNIONS) CAN BE ON AGENCY PROMOTION RATING SYSTEMS A State Department employee failed to achieve a passing score on the agency’s promotion rating system. In fact, he failed by a lot, getting only a … Continue reading

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EEOC CLAIMS DEMANDING FINGERPRINTS CAN BE RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION Given that all federal employees must sub it to fingerprinting to get their job, and certainly leave their fingerprints all over the workplace every day, we thought you might be interested in … Continue reading

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EEOC SAYS, “LET THAT DOG WORK” An employee with a heart condition (atrial fibrillation or Afib) obtained a service dog that could alert her to when an attack was coming. Upon being alerted, she could take medication to avoid another … Continue reading

Posted in Disability, Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | 1 Comment

NEW FLRA DECISION SETS A RECORD FOR BLUNDERS The Authority just issued DoD, DoDEA, Puerto Rico and Antillies Consolidated Education Association, 72 FLRA 414 (2021) which, along with the related prior Court of Appeals decision and other FLRA decision set … Continue reading

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FMLA OFTEN REQUIRES PERFORMANCE STANDARD ADJUSTMENTS Often an employer must adjust an employee’s performance standards once it approves the employee’s FMLA leave request.  Not long ago a Federal Circuit Court spelled it out for LR practitioners on both sides of … Continue reading

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UNION REP TEST #14- (Back Pay Entitlement) Many grievances are about getting back pay for employees, which makes it very important that practitioners know what can and cannot be done with back pay. Unfortunately, there are a lot of traps … Continue reading

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Part 2- GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES Now let’s turn to the common labor agreement requirement that the grievance include “the article(s) and section(s) violated.” Again, this sounds simple and very often is, but there are important exceptions.

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GRIEVANCE STRATEGY OPTIONS TO CONSIDER  – Part 1 Most labor-management agreements list a few simple items that must be addressed to file a valid grievance, e.g., 1- name of the grievant, 2- agreement article and section violated, 3- date of … Continue reading

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