What do you do if a probationary employee contracts you to announce that management has just told her that if she does not resign in 72 hours it will terminate her during her probationary period? When you ask her why management wants to fire her she says, “It’s complicated.” Where do you go to find out all the appeal options she and the union have to challenge her pending removal? We suggest that a good place to start is Continue reading
More than a few employees have faced that choice. Some managers have even issued the proposed removal letter, heard the reply, and shown the employee the signed decision letter to force them to officially leave “voluntarily.” In the early days of the Civil Service Reform Act if an employee retired under threat of removal he could not get back pay or even reinstatement even if he won his appeal. That is not so anymore, which gives the targeted employee some options. Continue reading
FMLA is available to care for adult children over 18 or older if the child is physically or mentally disabled. The Dept. of Labor has just issued guidance on how that works that all union reps should at least read once. Continue reading
A while ago we outlined 16 different ways a probationary employee can challenge his/her termination even though the urban legend is that probationers have no rights and there is nothing a union can do for them. Check out “16 Ways Probationers Can Appeal Terminations.” A recent Office of Special Counsel (OSC) case demonstrates the potential success of working with the union to plot an appeal path. Here is what OSC had to say in its own words. Continue reading
Just as the tax law permits employees to shelter from taxes the cost of dependent care via a Flexible Spending Account or 125 Plan, it also permits employees who pay parking fees to get to work to pay with pre-tax dollars. Because employers have the option of setting up these programs, it is up to employee unions to bargain for this benefit. One union just did with the support of the FSIP. Continue reading
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a way to measure how unfair agency policies or practices are, especially if the measure was widely recognized as having evidentiary value? Of course it would because union leaders would be able to go to the bargaining table to argue with authority for changes to unfair HR systems such as those involving performance awards, promotions, appraisals, training and sick leave restrictions. Well, there is such a measurement and FEDSMILL describes how to use it below. Continue reading
When management denies a disabled employee’s preferred accommodation, it helps to know what other accommodations are commonly granted in similar situations. It turns out that is easy to do. There is a web site that lists them. Check out the JOB ACCOMMODATION NETWORK’S web site. It not only offers multiple options for dozens of disability situations, but also gives you an authoritative source to point to when management questions the reasonableness of the idea.