Posted on January 27, 2025 by AdminUN

YOU CAN KEEP TELEWORK IF YOU HAVE A COMPELLING REASON

YUP! There is a way to wiggle out from under the Trump Administration efforts to punish federal employees for not voting for them. FEDWEEK just published a story you should read entitled, “’Compelling Reason’ Needed to Justify Continued Off-site Work.”  Check it out.  Those of you who eat, drink and sleep negotiation tactics will recognize this is an opportunity to demand to bargain before political telework penalties are implemented.  Think about implementing procedures and appropriate arrangement proposals you can make. Be on the lookout for management officials making deals directly with unit employees. Remember this FEDSMILL post about bypass? Or this about disability grounds for telework. Or the remedies available if the agency violates law when taking telework away. Or as a religious accommodation. Or the appropriate arrangement proposals others have made when management proposes to terminate telework. Or how to use FMLA to get telework. FEDSMILL has over 50 advice pieces about telework.  Just enter the term in the search box and they will all pop up.

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Posted on January 21, 2025 by AdminUN

AN INTERESTING DECISION ABOUT MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) posted a press release in late December announcing that it was ordering two SES Executives suspended for 30 & 36 days. OSC found that they committed prohibited personnel practices (PPP) in connection with promotion actions. While the OSC chose not to reveal most of the details about the case, it did mention that it caught one of the Executives “pressuring subordinates within HR to improperly select unqualified candidates for multiple positions.” The case is an interesting benchmark for unions to use if they show one of their agency’s managers or executives committed a PPP in a promotion action.  Why not take an arbitrator’s decision and ask the agency IG to investigate and to impose a proper penalty if it agrees a PPP was committed.  There is nothing wrong with sending the offending manager/executive a message that the union is not done with them once an arbitrator orders the agency to retroactively promote or grant priority consideration. That is a penalty on the agency, not the offending officials.

 

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, Prohibited Personnel Practice | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on January 21, 2025 by AdminUN

WHEN WILL COURTS REVIEW FLRA’S EXCEPTION DECISION INVOLVING A GRIEVANCE?

Courts generally are not permitted to review the Authority’s decisions involving exceptions to grievance arbitration awards.  But there is an exception to that rule, i.e., when the FLRA exception decision involves a ULP.  We first wrote about this in How A Grievance Can Also Always Be A ULP  But as time goes on, the courts have sharpened the criteria that must be met for it to take jurisdiction. In a decision issued last June the D.C. Circuit Court provided the most complete explanation yet of what a union must do to get judicial review.  Given that the incoming White House Administration appointees will arrived pre-disposed to overturn every union arbitration victory,  this small exception to the rule just might save your case.  Continue reading →

Posted in FLRA, Grievance/Arbitration, ULPs | Leave a comment

Posted on January 14, 2025 by AdminUN

FIRE UP THOSE NEGOTIABILITY DISPUTES NOW

During the last Trump administration his FLRA appointees savaged decades of FLRA and judicial case law. They not only overturned about 20 important precedents, but they did so by replacing reasonably objective criteria for applying the law with overly subjective ones. The new criteria will make it a nightmare for practitioners on either side of the table to apply.  In short, the Trumpers shifted federal sector labor relations from something governed by stable laws to one governed by “whatever the hell the political appointees of the moment say it is.”  Given that Trump appointees will soon control FLRA once again, things are only going to get worse for unions and employees unless unions find a way to override FLRA.  This post is about doing just that. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 14, 2025 by AdminUN

DON’T BET AGAINST THIS HAPPENING NEAR YOU

Somewhere early in the next White House Administration some probationary employee is going to be fired because Team Trump thinks the employee does not support the new President’s political views or because some campaign contributor to the new President’s campaign complained about the employee.  When that does happen a lot of folks are going to tell the probationer that s/he has no right of appeal—but every one of them will be wrong. When a probationer is fired for what appear to be political reasons they can appeal to MSPB. There is a wonderful article by an attorney at Shaw, Bransford and Roth entitled, MSPB: Agencies Terminate Probationary Employees for Political Reasons At Their Own Peril .  We recommend you look it over just so that you can be on the look out for one of your members being fired dor political reasons.  In the case discussed in the article the employee got his job back, back pay, and career status.

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Posted on January 9, 2025 by AdminUN

THE STATUTE AND CASE LAW DECISION YOUR UNION WILL NEVER EVER TELL YOU ABOUT

Every union member has a critically important right that their union prays the member knows nothing about.  Back in 1959 a law “was enacted after lengthy congressional investigations disclosed that in many instances, union officials had run unions as private fiefdoms, in utter defiance of the interests of members….” The goal of that law, i.e., the LMRDA, was to “end ‘autocratic rule by placing the ultimate power in the hands of members, where it rightfully belongs . . .’ ” Mallick v. International Brotherhood of Electric Workers, 749 F.2d 771, 777 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Mallick I).  And one of the rights it gave each member was the right to see and audit the union’s books.  There is a legal decision from the U.S. Dept. of  Labor that spells this all out and how to do it.  Chicago District Director, OLMS v. National Council Of Field Labor Locals, Council 73, AFGE, CASE NO: 98-SOC-1. Has your union ever told you about that right? If not, let me. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 9, 2025 by AdminUN

IT IS “FOLLOW THE UNION MONEY” TIME AGAIN

Want to know how your union is spending dues money, e.g., who is getting paid what, which outside contractors-consultants-counsels have been hired, how often the union went to arbitration last year, etc.? Well, as of December 31st each year union whose fiscal year ends in October—and most do, file reports with the Dep’t. of Labor detailing all that. And all those reports are available to you on the web.  Here is how to access your union’s report or any other unions. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 18, 2024 by AdminUN

FMLA TO CARE FOR SIBLINGS?

We have said it before and will say it again.  Fedsmill is not a legal advisor.  We will leave that to your union lawyers. Fedsmill, on the other hand,  advocate for things that help federal employees and unions, whether they are sure winners or not. So, if we run across an idea, we will likely pass it on to you to try. One such idea came across our screen this morning in the form of a post from the FMLA Insight folks.  They advised their readers of a court decision upholding the right of a private sector employee to use FMLA to care for a sibling. You can click on the story which is entitled,  “No Sibling Rivalry Here: Court Green Lights Potential FMLA Leave for Siblings.”  We recommend you look through it and probably let folks in your  a bargaining unit that the union is likely to go to bat for them if they are in a similar situation.

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Posted on December 16, 2024 by AdminUN

A “TIGHTY WHITEY” AND WORKPLACE RETALIATION

We have written about the advantages of alleging reprisal/retaliation claims whenever you represent an employe complaining about workplace harassment. Check out this January 2023 post. But it never hurts to remind reps of that, especially when you can do so with a easy to remember story.  The folks over at Constangey, Brooks, Smith & Prophete just published a story about an employee wearing only a tighty whitey at his workplace.  It is a very quick read and one we recommend you click over to check out.

Posted in EEO Harassment, Retaliation | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on December 10, 2024 by AdminUN

CONGRATS TO AFGE LEADERS AT SSA ON TELEWORK MANEUVER

They just signed a deal with SSA management to keep telework in place for six more years.  While that is not fool-proof protection against Shadow President Musk’s ranting about forcing all feds back to their offices, it is the next best thing.  Management will be required to bargain with unions before they can terminate telework, whether the union has a contract guarantee of it or not. But a contract like this will give the union extra arguments to insist that telework stays in place at least until the contract terminates.  Under the FLRA’s latest decision about the remedy for when an agency unilaterally terminates telework, a premature change would cost agencies dearly. Click here.

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