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 →

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, Test Yourself | Tagged | Leave a comment

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 →

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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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