Posted on September 8, 2014 by AdminUN

RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION COVERAGE EXPANDING?

A couple of years ago we posted an article entitled, “Church Lady Smites DOD.”  It discussed an EEOC case in which the employee had asked that her work hours be adjusted so she could not just attend church services, but also Sunday school and afternoon church meetings.  Even we were surprised that the laws requiring a reasonable accommodation for religious practices extends beyond the formal worship service to related activities. But it appears that the trend to expand the religious activities protected by the law continues.  The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (Davis v. Fort Bend County) just issued a decision extending protection for attendance at a ground-breaking ceremony for a new church.  Check out this more thorough story about the decision from the law firm of Outten & Golden.  Of course, this is only one Circuit Court and the decision could be overturned on appeal.  But it demonstrates that protecting employee rights to participate in a broad spectrum of religious activity is reasonable.

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Posted on September 8, 2014 by AdminUN

MSPB’S DIRTY LITTLE COVER-UP

That’s right, C-O-V-E-R—U-P!  Since the mid-90s, MSPB has been touting the cure-all benefits of category hiring over the rule of three or similar systems based on hiring from the top of a merit list first.  If you read over its multiple reports about category rating, you can almost feel the wind of the Board’s pom-poms on your face as it cheers on its favorite appointment process.  However, when asked the two questions used to distinguish scandals from mere screw-ups, the Board’s cover-up is undeniable, namely, 1-What did the Board know, and 2- When did it know it. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 3, 2014 by AdminUN

DON’T LIE ABOUT OFFICIAL TIME, PLEEEEEEEAZE

Not long ago, media material started pointing out that when federal employees act together to defraud the United States, it exposes them to potential criminal conspiracy charges under 18 USC 371.  That got us thinking about official time, particularly how it is used for training conferences and the potential there for abuse of official time. In fact, it got us worried enough to put together a reminder of where the line is crossed in training and the law likely violated. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 3, 2014 by AdminUN

“IT’S PART OF YOUR JOB” SUGGESTION AWARD GRIEVANCE

Grievances over suggestion awards are not new.  The two most common deal with disputes over the amount of money paid the employee for an adopted suggestion and whether an employee’s suggestion was actually adopted.  But what can an employee do if the agency adopts the suggestion but denies him any award because it claims it was his job to think of ways improve the operation? Continue reading →

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Posted on September 3, 2014 by AdminUN

EVERYTHING TO KNOW ABOUT PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION

The EEOC just published a wonderful guide to help employees and their union reps fight pregnancy discrimination. It is a bit long, but so thorough and easy to follow.  The Commission offers 22 examples of how it believes managers violate the law.  We recommend that busy union reps read through it just to expand their own sensitivities and that the local consider passing the link to any employees who are pregnant just to raise their awareness.  Check out Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues

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Posted on August 26, 2014 by AdminUN

LIST OF EEOC AWARDS FOR EMOTIONAL DISTRESS DAMAGES OVER $100,000

Too often employees decide not to file a discrimination claim because they believe it will mean a lot of work and heartache for very little payoff.  We have tried to regularly post material to help you show that there can be very big and satisfying payoffs, one of which is money damages of $100,000 or more just for the emotional damages caused by discrimination. (See “Getting $$$,$$$ For Emotional Stress.”)  However, Joshua F. Bowers, a private DC attorney, representing federal employees just posted in June a far more thorough list of all the cases where EEOC has awarded $100,000 or more for emotional stress.  We borrowed the title of his article for this post and strongly recommend you check it out, especially when trying to give an undecided employee a little more motivation to stand up for himself or herself. Thanks, Josh.

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Posted on August 24, 2014 by AdminUN

NTEU’S “ALVARA-RASSENFOSS” DILEMMA

One thing that distinguishes NTEU from almost every other multi-local union operating in the federal sector is that the decision to arbitrate a case in any unit is made by NTEU’s National President, the highest officer in the union of 150,000+ employees and over 230 locals spread across more than 30 federal agencies.  One reason for that kind of control is to ensure that precedents set by arbitrators that often impact tens of thousands of employees in a single unit are carefully chosen to maximize the chances that the union will get the precedent it wants.  Centralizing the arbitration invocation decision prevents two locals from taking conflicting theories to different arbitrators, arbitrating out of an emotional commitment rather than a strong set of facts, adopting a legal position with short-term gain but long-term disadvantages. etc.  But is simple centralization in one person enough to fully protect members from bad case law precedent developing? Continue reading →

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Posted on August 24, 2014 by AdminUN

CONGRATS TO US (FEDSMILL) FOR OUR 3/400!

Even if we have to say so ourselves, “Bravo, Fedsmill.com for hanging in there.”  Next month is our three year anniversary and just this week we posted out 400th article. Not bad for a phone booth size operation of volunteers.  We started this because we could see that none of the unions was sharing with their own local leaders and stewards the latest developments in case law and union administration that came as a result of what other unions were doing.  So, we decided to pitch in and fill that gap by timely spreading around the newest developments in order to keep union reps just as up to date as their LR counterparts who spend thousands each year on training and news services.  Our motivation is simple.  We believe that ideas and information, like the wind, are invisible, but if properly tapped, as a wind mill (or turbine) does, they can produce great power for many. We also believe that unions, like any organizations, need to constantly examine what they are doing today and whether there are ways to do it better.  Finally, as we have said often, we are not dispensing legal advice with our posts. We simply want to put information out that might make things better for unions and employees.  Happy birthday to us.

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Posted on August 19, 2014 by AdminUN

WHY BARGAIN OVER (& GRIEVE) AGENCY REGULATIONS?

MSPB wheeled out a great example why in a decision this week reversing an employee’s removal due to the withdrawal of his security clearance. After finding that the agency complied with all statutory adverse action requirements, the Board noted that agencies must also “comply with the procedures set forth in their own regulations.” (Blatt v. Dept. of the Army, 2014 MSPB 65 (2014)).  If they do not and the employee can show harmful error, the adverse action is reversed.   Continue reading →

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Posted on August 15, 2014 by AdminUN

KEN MOFFETT, JR. TAKES OVER NTEU NEGOTIATIONS DEPARTMENT

We did not see a formal public announcement about this, but are delighted to hear that Ken Moffett, Jr. has taken over as NTEU’s Director of Negotiations. (He replaces Frank Ferris, who held that job for all but four years since 1980 and who left NTEU last month after 38 years.)  Ken came to NTEU almost ten years ago from the Federal Service Impasses Panel, where he mediated cases under Joe Schimansky’s guidance. He is a Fordham Law graduate and former Marine.  Many of you will remember his dad, Ken Moffett, Sr, who ran the FMCS for several years before moving on to be Executive Director of the baseball players’ union and other union work. His mom was an organizer with the AFT.  NTEU made a great choice to run the 10-lawyer department that negotiates all the union’s term agreements, many of its major midterm agreements, and that litigates most of its national, class-action arbitration cases.

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