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.

“ENGLISH! ENGLISH!” That is what a manager shouted at two employees he found speaking Spanish while casually asking about each other’s families. When the employees filed a complaint alleging that was discrimination, the agency responded that surely a one-time incident … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Discrimination, National Origin | Tagged | Leave a comment

RIGHTS TO A SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER EEOC has just ruled on yet another case where an agency tried to skirt a employee’s right to a sign language interpreter. We thought it would be helpful to highlight the Commission’s simple statement … Continue reading

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

SHOULD FLRA REWRITE ATTORNEY FEE CASE LAW? While abuses are not rampant, they are there. One lawyer will charge five times what another does to win the same kind of case. Hourly fees are based on seniority rather than the … Continue reading

Posted in Attorney Fees | Tagged | Leave a comment

EEOC RULES METHODIST NEED NOT WORK SUNDAYS An interesting ruling came out recently in a case known as Stanton v. Brennan, USPS, EEOC No. 0120172696 (2019). The employee, a Methodist, claimed that his religion prohibited him from working on a … Continue reading

Posted in Religion | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHAT UNIONS CAN DO WHEN AGENCIES END NON-DISCRETIONARY BONUS PROGRAMS Given the anti-employee bias, if not contempt, built into the DNA of the current FSIP many employers are taking the opportunity to terminate negotiated performance award programs, e.g., annual awards … Continue reading

Posted in Awards, FLSA/Overtime | Tagged | Leave a comment

NFFE COULD FILE FALSIFICATION CHARGES AGAINST ABERDEEN MANAGEMENT We would. An arbitrator found that an agency failed to follow the contract obligation about the background of those on a promotion “rating panel” and gave two grievants priority consideration.  It did … Continue reading

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FLRA’S ABBOTT TRASHES PRESIDENT  Jim Abbott came out hot in a new FLRA decision condemning the foul, racist-tinged language used day in and day out by our President. Shedding his unofficial title as the Administration’s most notorious moral hypocrite, The … Continue reading

Posted in Union Rights | Tagged | Leave a comment

CONGRATS TO AFGE FOR ITS CIVIL RIGHTS PASSION The media carried a story today about how an AFGE rep from the TSA went to see a Georgia Congressman about issues important to his members and the Congressman’s constituents.  As the … Continue reading

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DO FMCS MEDIATORS LIE? That’s a tough question to answer when you know so many totally honest and honorable mediators, but the hard lesson we learned was that there are some who will. So, negotiators, especially union negotiators, need to … Continue reading

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COURT REVERSES FLRA ON CBP OVERTIME CAP About 20 years ago FLRA ruled that the statutory cap on how much overtime compensation a Customs and Border Protection Officer may receive did not bar paying the employee more than that cap … Continue reading

Posted in Overtime | Tagged | Leave a comment