Posted on November 23, 2015 by AdminUN

TIMELINESS OF GRIEVANCES VERSUS REMEDY TIME PERIODS: LMR RUSSIAN ROULETTE

Let’s assume that a union filed a timely institutional grievance on May 1, 2014 claiming that its members had been denied full travel mileage reimbursement as required by the agreement and agency regs.  Moreover, it claims that this has been going on for at least six years and asks that the agency or arbitrator award six years of retroactive travel allowances as a remedy.  Must the arbitrator award six years of reimbursement if she finds the agency violated contract and regulation? Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration, Back Pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 23, 2015 by AdminUN

CHURCH LADY SMITES DOD

Score another one for all the Sunday church-going Christians in their battle to spend their Sabbath worshiping.  This time DOD learned the hard way that it must offer a “reasonable accommodation” to allow employees to practice their religion and when they do not they can pay dearly.  In this case more than $25,000 in damages. Continue reading →

Posted in EEO/Discrimination, Religion | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 23, 2015 by AdminUN

UNIONS NEED MANAGEMENT’S HELP ON THIS

Tucked away in a little visited part of the labor law (5 USC 7120(c)) is an obligation that unions with exclusive recognition over federal employees must file annual financial reports with the IRS and Department of Labor. Unfortunately, a small number of unions fail to do so each year and some even chronically fail year after year. National unions have the power under law to step in and take control of locals that fail to comply, but few seem to have the internal political courage to correct these infractions before they embarrass the larger union.  In fact, it seems to us that this is not going to get fixed until agencies other than IRS and DOL do what they can to enforce the law. Continue reading →

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Posted on November 16, 2015 by AdminUN

WORKERS COMP FOR THE OVERWORKED

The Department of Labor recently decided a case that reminds practitioners of an overworked employee’s right to collect workers compensation. In August 2013 an employee filed an occupational disease claim alleging that he sustained a stress-related emotional condition in the performance of duty as an Administrative Assistant.  He pointed to  his depression and social withdrawal, his worsening pelvic floor dysfunction, the onset of neuropathy in his hands, feet and lower extremities, his weight gain of over 80 pounds, his worsening insomnia and sleep apnea, and the onset of several skin conditions. The core of his claim was based on being assigned the work of three other Administrative Assistants who left the office between October 2012 and February 2013.  Here is what DOL said when it overturned the initial dismissal of his case—and what is important to practitioners who want to help employees make similar claims. Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' Comp | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 16, 2015 by AdminUN

WHO IS JOE HILL? SPRINGSTEEN KNOWS

Joe Hill is an American labor movement legend whose stories and songs contributed heavily to the growth of unions in the early part of the last century.  Because only die-hard unionists may know who he was and the role he played, the NY Daily News just wrote a short story about him that others might want to look through—if only to see the connection to The Boss. If about the American worker intrigue you, here is a recording of the top then of all time.

Posted in Labor History | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 14, 2015 by AdminUN

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO LABOR POLITICS

With national politics heating up, we thought you might enjoy a story out of the Washington Post. It does a good job of explaining the different factions with America’s labor unions and why they often favor opposing candidates in the same political party.

Posted in Union Administration | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 13, 2015 by AdminUN

PREGNANT@WORK.ORG

The Center for WorkLife Law and the University of California (Hastings) has just made life a little easier for those of us practitioners who have pregnant employees or members. Their web site pulls together lots of useful information, e.g., case law decisions, advice guides, etc. and organizes it separately for those working for HR and those representing the employee. We recommend you check it out. Don’t be fooled into thinking that everyone knows their rights and obligations. Perhaps you noticed an EEOC posting recently announcing a $200,000 settlement for a small group of pregnant law enforcement officer working on the bridges of New York who were required to surrender their weapons and collect tolls once they announced they were pregnant-despite their MD’s assurances that they were capable of doing police work on the bridges.

Posted in Pregnancy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 11, 2015 by AdminUN

HOW MUCH BACK PAY IS TOO MUCH?

There have been many multi-million dollar arbitration awards in the federal sector.  Not long ago, the AFL-CIO unions teamed up to get $80 million out of the Indian Health Service. We also remember how AFGE tapped the State Department budget for almost $40 million in another case.  But sooner or later we are going to see a real whopper of an award in the federal sector.  A quarter of a billion dollars or more, e.g., an agency RIF is reversed forcing it to reinstate with back pay hundreds, if not over 1,000 people, who were let go five or more years ago in connection with a unilaterally implemented contracting out decision. Here is what agencies will do to overturn these nine-figure awards—and what union could do  in response. Continue reading →

Posted in Back Pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 9, 2015 by AdminUN

$120,000 LIGHT BULB

If managers ever needed an example of why it is always easier to work out a quick, voluntary agreement to a problem-even when they have doubts about the validity of an employee’s problem, this is the case.  A VA employee presented managers with notes from her medical officials that she needed natural or at least non-florescent light in her office to treat, if not prevent, chronic migraines. One solution would be to buy the employee a couple of cheap desk lamps from any of a half-dozen GSA’s discount suppliers. But, no, that apparently was too easy for the VA.  Instead, this agency devoted to caring for the health of others, decided to stand up for its “rights” rather than reason.  Continue reading →

Posted in ADA/ADAAA | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on November 5, 2015 by AdminUN

IS AGENCY USE OF GPS MONITORING I&I NEGOTIABLE?

FLRA has not stepped up to this question yet, but sooner or later an agency is going to use this equipment to monitor employees conduct, if not performance. But it is fair to ask even now what right will the union have to demand that the agency first bargaining procedural and appropriate arrangements before flipping the switch on this technology? Often the courts and Authority itself look to NLRB case law for guidance and the Board’s Office of Advice just issued a memorandum recommending that the agency not file a ULP charge when a private employer unilaterally implemented GPS. Check out the posting entitled, “Employer Had No Duty to Bargain Over Use of GPS Tracking Device,” by the McGuireWoods law firm summarizing the Board’s position. As with any legal decision, do not fixate on the bottom-line holding. It seems to us that had the employer actually changed working conditions by using GPS, e.g., gathered new data on employees never before captured, the outcome might have been different. Nonetheless, practitioners should tuck this one away in the back of their mind for the inevitable day they encounter workplace GPS monitoring.

Posted in Bargaining Law | Tagged | Leave a comment