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.

HOW TO LOSE MILLIONS FOR MEMBERS Recently, an agency served notice on each of the two unions that represent its employees that it plans to cut the awards program funding nearly in half. It currently distributes annually an amount of … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Law | Tagged | Leave a comment

70-PLUS ELEMENTS OF NEGOTIATIONS LAW If you want to be a highly skilled negotiator–or just avoid being taken to the cleaners in a bargaining relationship–you had better know about the many, many points in the bargaining process where the law … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Law | Tagged | 1 Comment

LABOR AGREEMENTS VERSUS EEO RIGHTS Because of her physical limitations, the employee was no longer qualified to perform her duties. According to EEOC, that obligates the agency to consider reassigning her to a position she can perform.  The agency refused … Continue reading

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations, Reassignments | Tagged | Leave a comment

CAN AGENCIES REQUIRE EMPLOYEES TO VACCINATE? This is going to be a hotly contested issue.  While we at Fedsmill do not have anything to say about it right now, we thought you might like to see what the folks at … Continue reading

Posted in FMLA | Tagged | 10 Comments

OH HOW LITTLE FSIP MEMBER CARTER KNOWS One of the predictable things about anti-union zealots, like the current membership of the FSIP, is that they almost never consider the second and third level consequences of their wildly biased decisions.  This … 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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ABOUT “SAME RACE” DISCRIMINATION Although it rarely comes up in the media, we thought you might like to read a short piece from the law firm of Fox Rothschild.  It is about what happens when a supervisor uses racial slurs … Continue reading

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ARE UNION REPS JUST TOO THOUGHTLESS TO DO THIS? For the umpteenth time we have yet another case where the union’s own incompetence destroyed their ability to win a grievance.  In this case, the agency changed some employees’ working conditions … Continue reading

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SHORT, SWEET, AND UNQUESTIONABLY ILLEGAL When an VA employee asked for a reasonable accommodation, VA management moved the request very efficiently by providing a prompt denial and ending the discussion of the request. Short and sweet, but according to EEOC … Continue reading

Posted in Disability, Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHAT IS A GRIEVANCE RECOVERY PERIOD? The FLRA has said that it “specifically distinguished between contractual back pay recovery periods and contractual time periods for filing grievances.” Consequently, we practitioners had better know the difference, particularly negotiators when we sit down to write … Continue reading

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