Category Archives: Grievance/Arbitration
WHEN WILL COURTS REVIEW FLRA’S EXCEPTION DECISION INVOLVING A GRIEVANCE? Courts generally are not permitted to review the Authority’s decisions involving exceptions to grievance arbitration awards. But there is an exception to that rule, i.e., when the FLRA exception decision … Continue reading
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FLRA ADDRESSES HOW SPECIFIC A GRIEVANCE MUST BE TO SURVIVE Not long ago FEDSMILL posted a piece entitled, “Grievance Strategy Issues- Part 4” which examined how specific a grievance must be to avoid several traps that can destroy an otherwise … Continue reading
FLRA PUNISHES UNION WITH DISPARATE TREATMENT Personally, I think FLRA is wrong, especially since it treats management much better in the same situation. But here is what it did last week and is very likely to do in the future. … Continue reading
TWO ROOKIE MISTAKES A recent FLRA decision opens with these three sentences, “In this case, Arbitrator Anthony R. Orman, found that the Agency violated Article 21, Section 4 of the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement by failing to distribute overtime in a “fair … Continue reading
GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES – Part 2 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.
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 violation, … Continue reading
CAN UNIONS SACRIFICE RETIRED GRIEVANTS? Every so often we hear from a union officer trying to settle a grievance asking whether s/he can cut out of the deal anyone no longer in the unit, agency, or even federal government. For … Continue reading
NAMING GRIEVANTS: A SOURCE OF UNION POWER Two members come to you, the union steward, complaining that the manager is no longer following the agreement’s provision about how to distribute overtime and they want to grieve. After they leave, you … Continue reading
TWO ROOKIE MISTAKES A 2019 FLRA decision opens with these three sentences, “In this case, Arbitrator Anthony R. Orman, found that the Agency violated Article 21, Section 4 of the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement by failing to distribute overtime in a … Continue reading
GRIEVANCE QUIZ: ALMOST PERFECT EXCEPT FOR … Below is a hypothetical grievance inspired by one that actually went to arbitration and FLRA. The union lost on a technicality in both forums. See if you can spot the error before we … Continue reading