Posted on June 19, 2014 by AdminUN

UPDATE ON BARGAINING OVER WORKLOAD CHANGES

Two years ago we pointed out what we believed to be the error in FLRA’s thinking when it held that an agency can stand by and watch employee workloads skyrocket out of sight due to increased public demand, know that the increase is vastly changing employees’ working conditions, yet have no obligation to notify the union and bargain. Check out Bargaining Over Workload Changes.  The D.C. Circuit court has ruled on NTEU’s appeal and the news is not good, but neither is it devastating. Continue reading →

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Posted on June 13, 2014 by AdminUN

MANAGEMENT LIABLE IF PUBLIC HARASSES EMPLOYEE

What can an employee do if a member of the public regularly sexually harasses her?  For example, suppose the person regularly makes sexually suggestive comments, perhaps touches the employee on the arm or shoulder, or even bumps against her.  Is the employee’s only alternative to demand her supervisor protect her?  Nope! Continue reading →

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Posted on June 13, 2014 by AdminUN

CONGRATS ON AFGE’s VA SCANDAL RESPONSE (How Scandals Are Planned In Advance)

Congress may not pass any laws, budgets, treaties or other legislation, but it sure does have a guaranteed way to generate scandals in federal agencies.  Since the media seems to be ignoring the formula for whipping up Executive Branch scandals, we thought we would shine a light on it after reading a Huffington Post story entitled, “Here’s the Simple Reason Congress Hasn’t Fixed the VA.”   It is a great piece that every fed should read when considering political action activity.  But here is what it left out. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 21, 2014 by AdminUN

ADVOCATES’ ALERT: AT LEAST MAKE THE ARGUMENT

The Authority just posted a new decision and the lesson for advocates on either side of the arbitration table is that they should get all their arguments on the record, even if they are not among the best or primary arguments.  A lot of practitioners will argue that it’s wrong to load up the record with alternative or only potentially useful arguments, but one agency learned the hard way the shortcomings of that approach. Because it failed to at least put an argument on the record with the arbitrator, FLRA would not consider agency exceptions raising the argument for the first time. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 19, 2014 by AdminUN

TELECOMMUTING CAN BE A REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

Just a few weeks ago another federal circuit court held that a disabled employee’s request to telecommute can be a reasonable accommodation.  If an employer wants to deny the requested accommodation, it has the burden to prove that granting it would cause it an “undue hardship.”  If you are dealing with this issue, take a look at what a management-side law firm is telling clients about telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation.  Note particularly the court’s criticism of the company for trying to restate the position’s essential duties to include arguments why telecommuting would be an undue hardship and the court’s rejection of the tired old management objection that employees cannot telecommute because their work requires teamwork with others, “we are not persuaded that positions that require a great deal of teamwork are inherently unsuitable to telecommuting arrangements.”   FEDSMILL has written about this before, e.g., “Want to Telework As A Reasonable Accommodation?”

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Posted on May 18, 2014 by AdminUN

WHICH GS GRADES PAY BELOW THE MINIMUM WAGE?

Thanks to SEIU and a few other justice-minded folks the City of Seattle has set the minimum wage at $15.00 an hour, giving over 100,000 workers around the city a raise.  While one’s minimum wage depends upon which federal or local law applies to them, this news means hundreds of federal employees in that city will now be paid less than the typical fast food worker, janitor, and clerk.  In fact, here are the feds in the Seattle area getting less than the private sector minimum wage:  Anyone  at:

  • GS-4, Step 2 or below,
  • GS-3, Step 5 or below
  • GS-2, Step 10 or below
  • GS-1, Step 10 or below

Maybe it is time federal sector unions insisted the GS scale be modified to ensure that no one on that (or any other federal scale for that matter) be paid less than the minimum wage in their locality.  That not only sounds like justice to us, but good management policy.  After all, why would IRS, SSA, DVA, HUD, or any federal agency want to lose trained staff because they get paid more to say a few hundred times a day, “Would you like fries with that?”

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Posted on May 18, 2014 by AdminUN

DETAILS: WHAT ABOUT THOSE LEFT BEHIND?

Most agreements contain a clause that spells out how employees are to be selected for details, but what about the employees who are left behind when someone leaves on a detail or reassignment?  The FLRA has held that those left behind can be “adversely affected” by even a temporary loss of a coworker, which means that before management can detail the selected employee the union has a right to be notified of the change and bargain over the impact. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining, Details | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on May 18, 2014 by AdminUN

NAVY DELAY TOSSES $300,000 OVERBOARD

These stories just keep on coming thanks to less-than-stellar agency efforts to provide reasonable accommodations–and employees willing to stand up for themselves.  EEOC just issued a new decision ordering the Department of the Navy to pay more than $300,000 to compensate an employee and his attorney for the damage the agency did when it delayed providing an employee a requested reasonable accommodation.  As if that was not painful enough for Navy, the Commission also ordered it to give two of the involved managers 120 hours of training on disabilities and the reasonable accommodation obligation. Here is how the employee did it. Continue reading →

Posted in EEO/Disabilities, Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on May 11, 2014 by AdminUN

GRIEVING NON-SELECTION FOR PROMOTION

Knowing how to overturn a Selecting Official’s decision not to promote someone is a critical skill every union local needs.  Success might not only get a member priority consideration, but also retroactive promotion, back pay with interest, compensatory damages up to $300,000, extra time-in-grade eligibility for another promotion and a higher pension check for life. Consequently, FEDSMILL has put a lot of effort into explaining how to win those grievances with the following postings that we hope boost your local’s effectiveness:

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Posted on May 10, 2014 by AdminUN

HOW TO CHALLENGE VAGUE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

Do your members work under performance standards that require tasks be completed “in a timely manner” or that the employee efforts “result in timely service?”  If so, MSPB just issued a decision that will help you attack the standard as overly vague and therefore void. Continue reading →

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