Posted on August 12, 2015 by AdminUN

EXTREME ULP REMEDIES

The NLRB recently issued a decision clobbering an employer with penalties for its repeated and substantial violations of the labor law. Take a look at this blog post about it for a quick overview of the decision. This is something a union might want to show FLRA or an arbitrator the next time it is litigating a very serious ULP matter. If you sit on the other side of the table, this is just one more indication that the potential remedy for persistent illegal activity might be something far worse than a simple 6 months slap-on-the-wrist posting.

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Posted on August 11, 2015 by AdminUN

WHAT NEXT AT CBP?

If you have been watching the cases coming out of FLRA the last year or so, you probably noticed that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to lose a lot of back pay cases to NTEU. Moreover, they are big cases worked out of the union’s national Negotiations department as class action grievances involving thousands of employees. Given that CBP decided to exhaust every avenue of appeal, including asking for reconsiderations when it loses initially at FLRA, some of the back pay claims go back to the last century. It is a good bet that the total amount due employees is measured in the hundreds of millions. And from what we can see, the time has come for CBP to pay—or refuse to comply with the law despite being a law enforcement agency. For example, Continue reading →

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Posted on August 11, 2015 by AdminUN

NTEU ELECTS REARDON NATIONAL PRESIDENT

NTEU convention delegates elected Tony Reardon today to be the next National President of NTEU, giving him more than 85% of the vote. For the past decade or so Tony has managed the union’s finances, accounting, real estate, information technology, meeting management, investments, human resources, payroll, and capital acquisitions. He does not have the background in representational matters that some other staff and chapter leaders do, but that just might be what helps NTEU turn around some troubling internal trends in membership, bargaining clout, political involvement, and even representation. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 11, 2015 by AdminUN

10 BARGAINING ISSUES AROUND PHASED RETIREMENT

Now that OPM has finally issued regulations to implement the phased retirement program (PRP), it is time for unions to prepare bargaining demands. Here are some that would be on our list. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 9, 2015 by AdminUN

UNION LEADERSHIP

The Dean of the Duke University School of Business is getting some publicity today for what he said about leadership. A reporter asked him about teaching leadership and the Dean responded, “The classic model of leadership is to find the smartest person in the room and have that person tell everyone what to do. That is not the kind of leadership that produces the innovation the world needs. The kind of leader who succeeds today is the leader who can bring people together and make great things happen through collaboration.” We could not agree more, but he missed a critical ingredient. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 3, 2015 by AdminUN

NTEU CONVENTION BEGINS THIS WEEK BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

While the NTEU convention does not start officially until August 9, its Resolutions Committee meets this week behind doors closed to delegates and members.  Under its Constitution, the NTEU National President appoints a little more than a half-dozen local leaders to the Convention Resolution Committee to prepare a recommendation on each proposed Constitutional amendment for the delegates who will vote on them next week.  Even though the committee could finish its work as early as Wednesday, the delegates will not see the recommendations until the night before the convention begins next Monday, when they must start voting on them. A copy is never posted for members or even those who proposed the amendment. In addition to their closed door summit, the committee members’ identities are not shared with the approximately 250 local union leaders until the convention starts. That ensures that these seven to nine committee members are not lobbied by the NTEU local leaders and members spread across over 30 agencies. Even the people proposing amendments cannot get to them. Although the committee has before it the proposed resolutions and a short rationale from the person proposing the change, only the National President can lobby the Committee to move in a certain direction. Typically, this is done by giving them a draft report with the President’s recommendations on what they should do with each proposed change. The President also places staff in the committee room to monitor their deliberations. This is not shared with delegates at any time.  But not all unions have such tight, centralized control over their conventions. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 2, 2015 by AdminUN

AGENCY HEAD APPROVAL OF LOCAL AGREEMENTS

The 5 USC 7117(c) rules for approving agreements negotiated at the level of exclusive recognition are well- known, e.g., an agency head has thirty days to disapprove a negotiated agreement, the agency must serve the union with notice of the disapproval within thirty days, the date of service rather than the date that the agency head decides to disapprove the agreement is what matters, and if an agency does not timely and properly serve its disapproval of an agreement on the union, then the agreement automatically goes into effect. But what about agreements negotiated below the level of recognition, commonly called local supplemental agreements.  What statutory rules apply to them?  The simple answer is that the parties have a choice. Continue reading →

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Posted on July 30, 2015 by AdminUN

PREGNANT EMPLOYEES’ PATH TO WORKPLACE ACCOMMODATIONS

The Supreme Court issued a decision earlier this year explaining the rights pregnant employees have to accommodations.  We thought the decision was explained very well for practitioners by Jeff Nowak of FMLA Insights. So, rather than try to outdo his very fine analysis and advice we suggest you click over to his post, read through it, and then forward it to all the folks who rely on your advice. We do not advise trying to presume you know who all the pregnant members.

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Posted on July 30, 2015 by AdminUN

LEAVE TO ATTEND RELIGIOUS CONVENTIONS 

EEOC has gone out of its way to explain that feds are entitled to accommodations for a wide variety of religious activities. If you doubt us, check out RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION COVERAGE EXPANDING, CHURCH LADY SMITS DOD, AND CHRISTIANS 1, CBP MANAGEMENT -$28,600. The Commission came out with another last week where an employee asked for leave to attend a religious convention, but never asked for a formal accommodation. Continue reading →

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Posted on July 28, 2015 by AdminUN

POOP IS GINA PROTECTED

(GUEST AUTHOR)- Is it lawful for an employer to collect genetic information from an employee, even if for non-discriminatory reasons?  According to a recent a decision out of the Northern District of Georgia, the answer is no.  Lowe v. Atlas Logistic Groups Retail Services, LLC (May 5, 2015).  Lowe involves a truly bizarre fact pattern – an unknown person was defecating in a factory and the company could not figure out the culprit.  After narrowing the suspect to several employees, the company requested DNA swabs that could compare to the … evidence … left on site.  Two innocent employees who complied with the request filed suit under the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA).  Despite the fact that the company requested the DNA swabs for non-discriminatory reasons, and did not use the swabs to collect information on the employees (only to compare to the evidence), the company was found to have violated the statute and was ordered to pay damages.    Continue reading →

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