Posted on December 13, 2012 by AdminUN

TEST YOURSELF: Is There a Violation Here?

Read over the facts below and identify what, if anything, the union can do to help. The answer is provided below the facts.

FACTS: Assume that an employee’s administrative workweek starts in the wee hours of Sunday morning and goes through to midnight the following Saturday. Let’s call her Keisha Krull. During the last year, she has always had a tour of duty running from Tuesday through Saturday starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 4: 30 p.m. Those were her regularly scheduled 40 hours. However, due to extremely tight budgets, the agency’s regional manager has decided to adjust the schedules of the people in Keisha’s work unit so as to avoid the need to pay any overtime. He moved staff from the slow periods of the week to the busier periods. Keisha’s new tour was Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Her hours on Monday were from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. but the rest of the week she was to work from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 13, 2012 by AdminUN

WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR

One of the great lines from film is the Animal House passage where one of the frat boys declares that nothing is over until the frat declares it over—just like it wasn’t over for America when the “Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.”  Despite a minor historical flaw, it is a good piece of wisdom to keep in mind when negotiating over the arbitration procedure in a new contract. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 9, 2012 by AdminUN

OUR COMPLIMENTS TO GAO ANALYSTS FOR THEIR UNION WEB SITE

If you have followed FEDSMILL.com for a while you know that we try to shine a light on particularly good union web sites. We have spotlighted ones at NFFE, NTEU, & AFGE, and we want another to the list. The GAO Analysts, who are affiliated with IFPTE, have done a great job. Some of the things that impressed us were how easy it is to read–uncluttered, good colors, wonderful layout.  Beyond those features, Continue reading →

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Posted on December 2, 2012 by AdminUN

FMLA OFTEN REQUIRES PERFORMANCE STANDARD ADJUSTMENTS

Often an employer must adjust an employee’s performance standards once it approves the employee’s FMLA leave request.  Not long ago a Federal Circuit Court spelled it out for LR practitioners on both sides of the table. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 2, 2012 by AdminUN

DISCIPLINE’S “DISPARATE PENALTIES” DEFENSE

MSPB just issued a decision that should help unions successfully represent disciplined employees.  It clarified, and some say expanded, the union’s ability to argue that any penalty must be mitigated, if not totally overturned, if the agency’s uses disparate penalties. Continue reading →

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Posted on December 2, 2012 by AdminUN

COUNCIL OF PRISON LOCALS WINS OT PAY FOR PRE-SHIFT WORK

Most feds know that you have to be paid for any work they do, but not many recognize that the things they do before their shift to get ready for work are legally work that must be compensated—even if it means giving them overtime pay. This is a problem wherever employees must perform tasks prior to a shift to be ready to work the second the shift begins or even after the shift is over to conclude the day’s work activities or help the next shift take over. AFGE’s Council of Prison Locals (CPL) just won a very well written arbitration decision that will generate a lot of retroactive overtime pay for its members. It is a decision that should be read by any union leaders worried about similar violations because it explains the law and regulations so clearly.

 

Posted in FLSA/Overtime | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

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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