Category Archives: Grievance/Arbitration
GRIEVING THE DENIAL OF A DEBT COLLECTION WAIVER To our surprise, both FLRA members decided to interpret the law differently from Chairman Dubester. The case raised the question of whether an agency’s denial of an employee’s request to repay an … Continue reading
DON’T MAKE THIS HGDG GRIEVANCE MISTAKE One of the more satisfying grievances to win for employees is a claim that they be paid for doing work above their normal salary grade. Often these are called Higher Graded Duty Grievances (HGDG), … Continue reading
CREATIVE GRIEVANCE REMEDIES One of the criticisms that can be leveled against most unions is that they often file grievances that fail to pursue all the potential remedies an employee is due. To put it more bluntly, they are letting … Continue reading
ARBITRATORS CAN’T, BUT UNION REPS CAN FLRA just issued a decision overturning an arbitrator’s decision on how to award back pay for unpaid overtime that highlights a very powerful club unions have in these cases. After deciding the agency had … Continue reading
GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES- Part 5 (Remedies) We are back with Part 5 of our Grievance Strategy series that aims to give union reps a deep look at how to deal with the six most critical parts of a union grievance. … Continue reading
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
OOPS, THEY DID IT AGAIN. SELECTING OFFICIALS WHO CAN’T EXPLAIN THEIR ACTIONS Like Brittany Spears’ song, some selecting officials are still getting “lost in the game,” and in the process hurting those around them. In this case, an over 40 … Continue reading
GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES – Part 4 Every contract we have ever seen requires the grievance to describe the alleged violation. Again, that sounds like an easy thing to do, but there are some traps to watch for. Let’s go back … Continue reading
GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES – Part 3 The third typical requirement of every grievance is that the union note the date of the alleged violation or the date it became aware of the violation. Not only can that be more complicated … Continue reading