The EEOC recently went on record indicating its willingness to charge employers with discrimination if they take personnel actions against employees involved in any of these circumstances. Every union rep should look over the EEOC spreadsheet entitled, Application of Title VII and the ADA to Applicants or Employees Who Experience Domestic or Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, or Stalking.
Most federal sector unions have only two nationally elected officials constitutionally empowered to lead the union. When one suddenly leaves office, the other immediately takes up the leadership slack. But, who is in charge if they both abruptly leave office? Too often, no one. Continue reading
The NLRB, which regulates private sector labor relations, has launched a full-scale assault on social media usage rules management has imposed on its employees. The Board is fighting any effort by employers to stop employees communicating outside of the job site or even sharing employment information. The Board believes those rules interfere with employee efforts to organize and bargain. Check out this short post that a pro-management law firm is circulating to warn employers of the new rules. If your agency imposes any of the offensive rules, think about challenging them through the FLRA.
What does it say about an agency when it takes months or even years after it becomes aware of an employee’s misconduct to discipline the employee? We think it suggests a serious mental illness among the agency leaders, perhaps Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). FLRA thinks it is grounds for mitigating the discipline and ordering back pay. Continue reading
Although we have not seen any federal sector cases where management objects to what the employee does while on FMLA leave, the issue seems to be heating up in the private sector. The FairMeasures.com web site posted an interesting story about the issue entitled, “What Am I Allowed to Do While On FMLA?”
The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) announced recently that its web-based Comprehensive Arbitration Training is now available on-line. The training is yet another example of the FLRA’s ongoing efforts to better serve the labor-management community, providing members with current, useful tools to support them in addressing workplace matters.
FLRA just added some clarity to the issue of when are employees entitled to back pay. In NTEU, 66 FLRA 1024 the employee had been denied the right to work overtime because there was a pending investigation of his conduct. There was no dispute about his performance, just conduct and just one incident. This was a very big deal because the employee was in a job where employees could and regularly did earn up to $35,000 a year in overtime. Continue reading
If the average federal employee only knew how vulnerable he/she is to being fired for performance-based reasons, employee pharmaceutical bills would double. Management can unilaterally set the performance standards, need only produce some evidence that the employee failed to meet one of them, and choose the penalty with virtually no second-guessing by MSPB or the courts. That’s why a recent AFGE victory is very good news, whether grieving a low performance appraisal or defending against a proposed removal for unacceptable performance. Continue reading