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.

WHEN IS OBESITY A DISABILITY? A new U.S. Circuit Court decision outlines the criteria an obese employees must meet in order to request an accommodation.  The law firm of Ogletree Deakins wrote a good piece about what the case means … Continue reading

Posted in Disability | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHY DOESN’T FSIP GET IT ABOUT DECISION FALLOUT? One of our continuing beefs with the Panel is that it regularly fails to consider the long-term fallout of its decisions. For example, it recently rejected a union proposal that assignments to … Continue reading

Posted in FSIP | Tagged | Leave a comment

OMG!!!! REALLY? AFTER 40 YEARS OF CASE LAW. Not long ago at all we ran across a case that left us confused about whether to be angrier with the agency or the union. We are not going to identify the … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration Exceptions | Tagged | 1 Comment

OUR COMPLIMENTS TO FLRA ON NEW WEB SITE We will always remember Carol Pope as the person who not only kept Dale Cabiness from pulling the plug on FLRA, but who also nursed it off life support once Dale resigned. … Continue reading

Posted in FLRA | Tagged | Leave a comment

ACCOMMODATING EMPLOYEES WHO CANNOT REPORT TO WORK The law firm of ShawValenza just posted a very interesting article under the title above.  We recommend it for those working in the reasonable accommodation area, if only as a useful thought-provoking piece … Continue reading

Posted in ADA/ADAAA | Tagged | Leave a comment

GRIEVING ULP CHARGES While the traditional place to file a ULP allegation is with the FLRA, there are considerable advantages to grieving it—especially if you make some small changes in your contract grievance procedure.

Posted in ULPs | Tagged | Leave a comment

THE MISSING ELEMENT OF OVERTIME BACK PAY CASES The FLRA has made it quite clear that in order to award back pay a party must show that there is a direct causal connection between the unwarranted and unjustified personnel action … Continue reading

Posted in Back Pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

BROAD REMEDIES FOR DISABILITIES Too often union reps and LR/ER/EEO Specialists think that the only remedies available to disabled employees needing an accommodation is something personal to the employee, e.g., a larger computer screen, a better chair, or even a … Continue reading

Posted in Disability | Tagged | Leave a comment

GRIEVANCE DRAFTING TIPS 1, 2 & 3 Most contracts merely require the union to put the following in the grievance: 1- Article and section violated, 2- Description of the grieved event, and 3- Remedy desired.   As clear as that or … Continue reading

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | 3 Comments

LADIES OF THE LAW A conference is coming up that will feature the four most important women in federal sector labor and employee relations. The National Academy of Arbitrators along with FMCS is sponsoring a program in early May where … Continue reading

Posted in Training | Tagged | 1 Comment