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 →

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 →

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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 →

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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.

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Posted on November 3, 2015 by AdminUN

MSPB REVERSES REMOVAL FOR UNION ANIMUS

While we rarely think of MSPB as a place to slug out a dispute over whether an agency’s unacceptable performance removal of an employee was due to union animus, the Board just reminded us that it will consider that defense in any action appealable to it, e.g., adverse action, unacceptable performance action. (See Ayers v. Dept. of Army, 2015 MSPB 58 (2015).)  This employee had apparently filed nine grievances as well as some ULP’s and information requests in a little over four months, triggering a long-term retaliation campaign by her manager. Summarized below via excerpts from the Judge’s 250+ page opinion, is what the Board says is needed if an employee alleges union animus or an agency has to defend against the charge. It is worth reading if only to get a sense of the wide range of evidence the Board will consider when examining animus claims. Continue reading →

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Posted on November 3, 2015 by AdminUN

AMAZON CREATIVELY EXPANDS FMLA RIGHTS

AMAZON sent a message around the cyberspace community as well as our little brick and mortar world by allowing parents of newborn children, who both work for Amazon, to transfer their time off days from one to the other.  It is a great idea and in many cases will yield substantial benefits for an employer, e.g., only one employee’s position is disrupted, in some cases savings from a salary difference between the couple, a happier pair of employees, etc.  This might be something to consider at all those union legislative conferences targeting changes they want out of Congress.

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Posted on October 26, 2015 by AdminUN

BEWARE AN ARBITRATOR’S BACK PAY “COMPROMISE”

In late August a case came rolling out of FLRA that has the potential to confuse lots of practitioners. The arbitrator found that the agency had not properly compensated an employee for 12 years of stand-by/call-in work he had performed. However, the arbitrator then wrote that he had “no way of placing a monetary value” on the work performed. Consequently, he threw out a figure of $24,000 in back pay as a compromise between the parties. See (AFGE, 68 FLRA 852 (2015)) If practitioners on either side of the table are thinking of asking an arbitrator to do the same in some future case, we recommend that you not.  Although FLRA upheld this award, it appears that this back pay compromise is a fluke. Continue reading →

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