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.

I DON’T GET NO ADVANCE SICK LEAVE RESPECT An employee asked for 88 hours of advance sick leave due to incapacitation and doctor appointments.  When the agency denied the request, she was given no reason for the decision.  When her … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Discrimination | Tagged | Leave a comment

MEDICAL PRIVACY QUIZ An employee informs her manager that she will need some sick leave because of pending knee replacement surgery.  Her supervisor passes on that information on to her supervisors so that they are aware of a potential need … Continue reading

Posted in Disability, Medical Issues | Tagged | Leave a comment

HOW TO WASTE, ABUSE AND MAYBE EVEN DEFRAUD UNION FUNDS We are not talking about what everyone would consider outright theft, e.g., reimbursing a dummy company for fictional services and shipping the money to the Caymans. We are not even … Continue reading

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | 1 Comment

CAN AGENCIES BAN RECORDING DEVICES IN THE WORKPLACE? For generations employers had the unquestioned right to prohibit employees from using or even bringing recording devices into the job site—although employers could use them if they wished on or against employees. … Continue reading

Posted in Employee Rights, Union Rights | Tagged | Leave a comment

IS THIS EMPLOYEE OWED $314,621.00, $95,186.00, OR $209,836.00? We just ran across a wonderful example of how easy it is to determine the proper amount of attorney fees under current law and regulation. We are sending it along for all … Continue reading

Posted in Attorney Fees | Tagged | Leave a comment

EEO RETALIATION QUIZ In which of the following situations will EEOC argue that the employee has been the victim of illegal retaliation under the Civil Rights laws? (1) An EEO Specialist was reprimanded for telling her manager that she thought … Continue reading

Posted in Retaliation | Tagged | Leave a comment

UNIONS NEED AGENCY HELP ON ATTORNEY FEES There are more and more signs that employee attorneys, including union attorneys, are getting greedy on attorney fees.  Not long ago we posted a story entitled, “The $796.00 Per Hour Federal Job” to … Continue reading

Posted in Attorney Fees | Tagged | Leave a comment

WE COULD NOT AGREE MORE A whole new area of HR/ER/LR knowledge is opening up that creates the potential for union leaders to fall even farther behind the expertise curve. Once managers get up to speed with it, do not … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Proposals | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHEN HAIR TRUMPS URINE An agency suspended a firefighter for 30 days who tested positive for illegal drugs after being selected in a random test. Because the employee was absolutely convinced that he had not used drugs, he tried to … Continue reading

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

MEASURING THE QUALITY OF A UNION We have always thought that you can measure the quality of a union by how quickly it moves a member’s grievance to and through arbitration for a final decision. After all, for every member … Continue reading

Posted in Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment