Posted on December 2, 2012 by AdminUN

“DE MINIMIS” DOCTRINE TOO COMPLEX EVEN FOR ALJs?

Not long ago FEDSMILL.com posted an article entitled “Die, De Minimis Die” to shine a light on how elusively complex and high risk the de minimis doctrine is for practitioners.  It may look good as a theory in some circuit court judge’s chambers or as a principle of law to the FLRA, but it drives the rest of us nuts.  That’s why it was so satisfying last week to see FLRA has had to yet again overturn one of its own ALJs who apparently doesn’t understand it either. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 2, 2012 by AdminUN

NRC NUKES ITS EMPLOYEES, THEIR KIDS AND THEIR COUNTY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) just dropped a megaton of bad news on its own employees. It is withholding everyone’s annual performance bonus due this month, even managers’ below the SES level, unless the employees’ union NTEU drops its bargaining demands.  Continue reading →

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Posted on November 26, 2012 by AdminUN

FMLA LEAVE TO COVER VACATIONS–

We recommend that you check out the blog page cited below.  A judge has held that employees are entitled to FMLA leave if they are the care giver for a covered member of the family and that covered member needs them to accompany them on vacation, e.g., to Vegas. Continue reading →

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Posted on November 26, 2012 by AdminUN

“SHHH!” COMMAND COSTS MANAGEMENT OVER $12,000

A manager warned a maintenance employee to be careful who she told about how offended she was by finding a pornographic magazine in the restroom. The supervisor may have just been trying to get the employee to be discrete or to let him deal with the problem before she went outside her chain of command, but the employee and EEOC saw the manager’s words as a violation of law and ordered it to write a substantial check. Continue reading →

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Posted on November 26, 2012 by AdminUN

CRITICAL CONTRACT CLAUSES (#2)- Mandatory Suggestion Awards

Agencies pay consulting firms millions to suggest ways to improve operations. But very few union contracts force agencies to fairly compensate its own employees when their suggestions are accepted–and that is hurting employees as well as management.  This is a critical issue for future negotiations throughout government. Continue reading →

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Posted on November 26, 2012 by AdminUN

CHECK OUT THE “COMPARE CONTRACTS” BUTTON ABOVE

FEDSMILL.com has assembled copies of significant labor-management master agreements in the federal government and made them available in the Menu bar button above entitled “Compare Contracts.” These contracts will give you a good idea of creative solutions others unions may have negotiated to common problems as well as examples you can point to show your management that your similar proposal is reasonable. Included are contracts from AFGE, NFFE, NTEU, NWSEO, NAGE, IBT, FOP, AFSCME, IFPTE, IAFF, and ACT.

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Posted on November 26, 2012 by AdminUN

DISCLOSURE OF FMLA MEDICAL INFO TO UNION REQUIRED 

In the right-hand column of the FEDSMILL.com page we track headlines off web sites of interests to federal employees. One of them deals with FMLA case law and it recently posted an article that all union reps should read. It discusses the union’s right to see an employee’s otherwise confidential medical information filed to support a request for FMLA leave if needed to enforce the law or employee rights. This is an important decision that unions should point out to managers, arbitrators, FLRA , etc. if the union has a need for the information and it is mindlessly denied.

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Posted on November 19, 2012 by AdminUN

TEST YOURSELF- The Missing Grievance Allegation?

Let’s suppose that an irate member contacted her union rep on a Friday complaining that a month ago her manager had approved her taking one week of annual leave next week, but suddenly the leave that was to start next Monday was canceled.  She asked the union to do what it could. (Read on to see if you can figure out whether the union made one or more mistakes before we provide the answer at the end of this posting.)  Continue reading →

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Posted on November 19, 2012 by AdminUN

25 CRITICAL CONTRACT CLAUSES SERIES

Union leaders need to constantly update their bargaining demands–and FEDSMILL.com wants to help. The members’ needs change constantly as do their agency leaders.  New technology reshapes their work environment regularly, as do annual budget fights . Even the law and regulations mutate, although at a painfully slow pace. Negotiators need to keep up with all that or risk losing the support of the employees.  So, we are beginning a series of postings that deal with the most important contract clauses union negotiators should be pursuing today. Although no one contract we have read has all these issues addressed, most can be found in some contracts. Ideally, we can help you make them common throughout the federal government. The postings will be titled with the words CRITICAL CONTRACT CLAUSES, which will be followed by the topic. The first in this series appears immediately below. If you have any thoughts as to how we can make these postings more helpful, just send us back a comment.

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Posted on November 19, 2012 by AdminUN

CRITICAL CONTRACT CLAUSES (#1)-Job Swaps

Why should not employees have a right to swap jobs, e.g., a GS-318-05 Secretary in one office on the west side of the city swapping with a GS- 318-05 on the east side of town–or even across the country?  While there are some costs to management, the agency and employee benefit under the right approach.  Continue reading →

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