Posted on September 18, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS WRITTEN GRIEVANCE?

Look over the facts listed below to see if you can spot the potential problem in how this grievance was written.  Sarah Smith, our fictional employee, did not make the Best Qualified List for a promotion because the agency used a ranking factor it should not have. If that factor had not been used, Sarah and three other employees would have been on the BQ list instead of the four who were on it when management chose the top-ranked person on the list. Sarah sensed something was wrong when she was not placed on the BQ list, and brought her concern to the union.  It obtained the promotion package, found the error and represented Sarah on the grievance she filed.  It did not file on behalf of the other three harmed employees because they were not members and when asked if they wanted to be covered by the grievance they told the union to leave them alone. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 16, 2014 by AdminUN

A TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT TIP

Suppose an agency decides that the most advantageous way for you to travel from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Billings, Montana for three days of official duty there is by air with a rental car while there. However, rather than go by air, you choose to drive your POV, which required you to leave Sunday for a Monday 1 PM appointment and also stay another night on the road when travelling home after your last appointment in Billings.  Most everyone knows that you will be reimbursed for the lesser of the cost of travel by air versus the cost of travel by POV.  But just how are the two figures calculated? A recent CBCA decision shows that the Department of Interior’s own travel regulations had it wrong, which leads us to believe other agencies do as well.   (See Cherry, CBCA 3878-TRAV) Here is a more formal interpretation of the rule: Continue reading →

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Posted on September 16, 2014 by AdminUN

EEOC IDENTIFIES COMMON ERRORS AGENCIES MAKE WHEN DISMISSING EEO COMPLAINTS

The EEOC just published a report showing that about one-third of the time an agency dismissed a discrimination complaint on procedural grounds it is wrong. If your local represents members in that process, you should at least page through this to familiarize yourself with the most common blunders agencies make.  It is entitled, “Preserving Access to the Legal System: Common Errors by Federal Agencies in Dismissing Complaints of Discrimination on Procedural Grounds.”

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Posted on September 12, 2014 by AdminUN

NLRB DECISION SUGGESTS FLRA GET TOUGHER

The NLRB, which many judges have told the Authority to look to for guidance, just clobbered an employer that bargained in bad faith by ordering it to pay the union negotiators’ salaries and costs of engaging in the futile and illegal bargaining table discussions. Hospital of Barstow, Inc., 361 NLRB No. 34 (Aug. 29, 2014) This is something we should ask FLRA and arbitrators ruling on bad faith bargaining cases to do as well.  Here is how a union might set that up. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2014 by AdminUN

FLRA WANTS INPUT ON ITS “LICENSE TO KILL” CASE

The Authority recently called for input from all interested parties on a case before it.  An ALJ has recommended that an employee of an agency that is excluded from coverage under the labor statute by Presidential Executive Order can never be held liable for violating other covered employees’ labor law rights.  If the FLRA upholds this recommendation, managers in every agency will have the right to call on employees from one of these government entities to come in and do any illegal dirty work for them.  While we hope that unions assign their best legal minds to respond to FLRA, there is also a lot of common sense at issue here that any union leader should feel free to share with the Authority.  Here are some facts of the case. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2014 by AdminUN

TEST YOUR ADVERSE ACTION DEFENSE KNOWLEDGE

The MSPB has held that an agency is obligated to impose similar adverse action penalties on similarly situated employees. But that does not mean comparison between any two employees works   Here are the facts from a brand new Board decision that turned on whether the downgraded supervisor’s case was similar to that of another recently disciplined manager who only received a reprimand.  See if you can predict the correct outcome of the case. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 8, 2014 by AdminUN

A NOVEL REMOVAL SETTLEMENT OPTION

FEDSMILL.com exists to spread good ideas among union leaders throughout government no matter who thought of it.  The more each of us knows, the more powerful we are.  We ran across a real good one today that we had never heard of before while reading through the newest MSPB decisions.  An agency removed an employee for unacceptable performance.  He was 46 at the time and had 18 years of service. He filed an appeal with the MSPB and after the hearing, he and the agency settled the case by … Continue reading →

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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 →

Posted in Promotion/Hiring | Tagged | Leave a comment

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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