Posted on March 23, 2014 by AdminUN

NTEU ADDS ANOTHER BARGAINING UNIT

It has been a long time since the National Treasury Employees Union organized only employees of the Treasury department.  Today, it represents employees of dozens of federal agencies, and in the last few months has welcomed the employees of two other agencies.  The first was the Consumer Financial Protection Board, which is an independent agency created after the financial meltdown and scandals the Obama Administration inherited.  The other is the National Capitol Region of the National Park Service, whose Rangers and maintenance staff previously had been represented by the painters’ union. Congrats to NTEU and anyone else organizing unrepresented employees.  And congrats to the Park Service employees who believing they were not getting what they needed from their prior union did something about it.

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Posted on March 23, 2014 by AdminUN

AFGE’S WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW FILLS A GAP

There is no shortage of publicly available newsletters covering federal employment issues.  However, AFGE has one that focuses on the news from the perspective of employees.  It is a very worthwhile source of information.  If your local likes to pass on information to employees to help them understand the need to stand up for themselves in a united way, this is a good place to get material.

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Posted on March 4, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT DO SELECTING OFFICIALS OWE BQ CANDIDATES?  A LOT!

Law requires selecting officials to explain to non-selected BQ promotion applicants why they were passed over. In fact, it requires them to be quite specific about why. See if you can figure out which of these selecting official explanations meets the requirements of law.

  • You just were not the “best candidate” for the job.
  • You were not sufficiently suited for the job.
  • You did not do as well as the selectee in the interview.
  • The interview panel did not like your appearance.
  • You did not have the specific job knowledge and experience I was looking for.
  • You will not fit in with this group.
  • The selectee has more potential for these particular duties.
  • You need to show better interpersonal skills and leadership potential.
  • You need to improve your appraisal scores, get more experience, and demonstrate you are ready. Continue reading →
Posted in EEO/Discrimination, Information, Promotion/Hiring | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on March 1, 2014 by AdminUN

AAGGGHHHH!  WHY DO UNION REPS MAKE THIS MISTAKE?

A while ago we posted an article entitled, “How to Lose Millions For Members.”  It explained that from all appearances the union had missed the opportunity to stop management from taking away money employees were due in awards. Well, it has happened again, which suggests that we should hit this topic again.  Continue reading →

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Posted on March 1, 2014 by AdminUN

AFGE WINS $35 MILLION IN BACK PAY FOR EPA MEMBERS

Laborradio.org just reported that the AFGE Council of locals in the Environmental Protection Administration has settled a grievance for $35 million in retroactive overtime pay.  EPA management had told these employees they were not covered by the overtime laws–when they were.  The union stood up for them and worked this dispute for nearly six years before management relented.  This is another fine example of a union protecting employees when many of them did not even know they were being cheated. It is unclear what this will mean for those EPA employees not represented by AFGE.

Posted in FLSA/Overtime | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on March 1, 2014 by AdminUN

MEET AMERICA’S HIGHEST PAID “GOVERNMENT WORKERS”

Hats off to AFGE for its recently published article revealing who gets paid the most–millions actually– to do government work.  It is not who you think, and you will never hear about this story on FOX, from Rush, or around the Koch brothers’ household. It is a “gotta read” piece so that you can share the facts with friends, family and just plain folks when they take shots at the overpaid public employees.  Here is a hint.  With the income just one of the guys receives from your taxes, 400 more federal GS employees could be hired by the Social Security Administration to clear the backlog of disability claims, the VA to help vets,  the SEC to clean up Wall Street, or the IRS to catch all the folks hiding assets in overseas bank accounts.

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Posted on February 12, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT IS A “SUBSTANTIALLY YOUNGER” FEDERAL EMPLOYEE?

Here’s a hint. It is someone over 40 years old. Need another hint? It is also someone who applied for promotion. Still stumped? It is someone who got the promotion instead of a substantially older applicant who wants to file an age discrimination allegation. EEOC and the courts have recognized that even when everyone applying for a particular promotion is over 40, disappointed candidates might have an age discrimination case if the selectee is over 40 but substantially younger than they are. Age discrimination does not require that the selectee (or selecting official) be under 40 years old.     Continue reading →

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Posted on February 11, 2014 by AdminUN

EEOC NORMALLY ORDERS CREDITING PLAN DISCLOSURE

OPM, FLRA, and the courts may be highly reluctant to order an agency to disclose a crediting plan to a grievant or the union, but EEOC is not.  It has addressed the issue over a dozen times and developed a good body of case law that the Authority should draw from to deal with this disclosure issue. Continue reading →

Posted in Information, Promotion/Hiring | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on February 11, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU STORM OUT OF AN ARBITRATION HEARING?

Whether it is the union or management refusing to participate and whether it is a grievance arbitration or an interest arbitration, the answer is the same.  It is a very big mistake and you will likely regret it—a lot.  The Authority has repeatedly ruled that if a party refuses to participate in an arbitration hearing that was properly scheduled, it commits an unfair labor practice.  Of more immediate significance is … Continue reading →

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Posted on February 2, 2014 by AdminUN

FLRA CHANGES POLICY ON POSTINGS VERSUS E-MAILS

FLRA’s newest decision announced that in the future it will typically adopt a union request  that an agency guilty of a ULP be required to  send all involved employees an e-mail announcing its guilt and promising to not violate the law again.  In the past, the Authority would only order that in extraordinary or non-traditional cases, e.g., repeated serious violations by an agency.  However, in AFGE 67 FLRA 221 it changed its mind largely because wall-mounted bulletin boards, the traditional location of FLRA paper-postings,  have “… gone the way of the telephone-message pad and the interoffice envelope .”  The Authority ended its decision by emphasizing three points. Continue reading →

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