Posted on October 2, 2012 by AdminUN

ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE

This is not about the federal sector, but it is a story about employee relations and employment law that should be told and retold as often as possible. EEOC just announced that it caught a private sector employer, Henry’s Turkey Service, paying some of its employees only $65. a month.  Although the evidence showed that the employees performed at the same level as other employees doing the same work for $11. an hour, management apparently believed it could pay them far less because they were mentally impaired disabled workers. (The job was to hand-gut dead turkeys.) Continue reading →

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Posted on September 25, 2012 by AdminUN

TERM LIMITS FOR UNION OFFICIALS

Normally, we oppose term limits for elected union officers.  If the leader is doing a good job in the eyes of the membership, let them decide via elections whether to return him/her to office—no matter how long the leader has held the job.  But, there is one big exception. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 25, 2012 by AdminUN

CEO PAY JUMPED 5% LAST YEAR FOR THE HIGHEST PAID ONES

This has almost nothing to do with federal sector labor relations; it is merely about social justice.  At a time when a record number of Americans are living in poverty, isn’t it comforting to know that the absurdly wealthy, multi-millionaire CEOs are getting raises?  In fact, their raises averaged 5% for the year.  Check it out if you do not believe us.  What makes this particularly exciting is to know that this is the group that demanded the President show more fiscal restraint with federal employees by freezing their pay. NO wonder they do everything possible to crush unions.

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Posted on September 25, 2012 by AdminUN

FMLA QUALIFICATION OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD

The Family Medical Leave Act does not impose the same qualification rules on everyone. The biggest difference flows from whether an employee is covered under Title I or Tile II, namely whether an employee must work 1,250 hours in a year before qualifying. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 25, 2012 by AdminUN

FSIP GUTS UNION’S RIGHT TO BARGAIN

The Impasses Panel just sent a very loud and clear message to unions working for employers that bargain with multiple unions. The Panel is more than willing to take away bargaining rights from the last union to settle with management in a mid-term bargaining dispute. Continue reading →

Posted in FLRA, FSIP, Strategy/tactics | Leave a comment

Posted on September 19, 2012 by AdminUN

ADMIN LEAVE DURING NON-DUTY TIME

Can an employee receive admin leave on a day in which he/she was off on annual leave? Yes, according to the FLRA. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 19, 2012 by AdminUN

WHEN PAST PRACTICE TRUMPS CONTRACT LANGUAGE

What do you do if management suddenly announces that despite following a certain past practice for years, which obviously conflicted with the contract language, it is now pronouncing the past practice dead and insisting the parties immediately follow the clear and unambiguous contract language in the future? The first thing you would do is figure out whether you want to object, and if you do the second thing would be to read the newly issued decision AFGE, 66 FLRA 963 to refresh your recollection of how the law treats those situations. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 19, 2012 by AdminUN

SOFTENING SUSPENSIONS

In 1994 MSPB announced that when it had the power to impose adverse action agencies were required to have an employee serve his/her suspension on consecutive days, rather than let the employer serve a few days of a long suspension each pay period until the total suspension was fulfilled. Unfortunately, too many union negotiators overreacted and concluded that they had no choice but to accept sequential day suspensions. They were most likely wrong. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2012 by AdminUN

REASSIGNMENTS RIGHTS FOR DISABLED EMPLOYEES

Disabled employees just got a little more clout to insist on reassignment to jobs they can do. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2012 by AdminUN

WHY 17,000 EEOC CHARGES MATTER TO UNION LEADERS

One of organized labor’s biggest mistakes was to turn over to the government and private attorneys enforcement of the over 30 labor laws unions worked so hard to push through Congress.  As a result, tens of thousands of employees each year rely on a federal official or private attorney for help with an employment problem rather than turn to a union. Unions made themselves significantly less relevant by turning this representational work over to others, and, sadly, too many federal sector unions are going down the same self-destructive path that their private sector predecessors did. Continue reading →

Posted in EEO/Discrimination, Grievance/Arbitration, Union Administration | Tagged , | Leave a comment