MEMBER ALERT! Disabled employees now have a little more reason to expect that their employer may be required to help them commute to and from work when their disability makes that very difficult or impossible. One U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just instructed a lower court that the right to a reasonable accommodation can extend to commuting to and from the job. Generally, courts have not done that. Continue reading
Martindale.com reports that 27,160 lawyers in this country make a living practicing labor or employment law. So, no one should think that our workforce has lost its interest in employee rights and representation. There is a major market for employee representation, and unions should be asking themselves why employees have turned to very expensive private attorneys for help rather than to unions. Continue reading
MEMBER ALERT! OPM finally issued regulations spelling out when federal employees are entitled to use FMLA leave to deal with military-related situations in the family. Family includes an employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent. The specific situations for which leave are allowed are called “qualifying exigencies” (5CFR 630.1204) and are paraphrased below. Continue reading
STEWARD ALERT! It is illegal for any employer to use tests of any kind (oral, written, behavioral) if they tend to discriminate against a class of protected employees under any of the Civil Rights acts, unless it can that the test is job-related, is a business necessity and no reasonable alternative is available. (See 5 CFR 300) Continue reading
MEMBER ALERT! The Justice Dept. just announced it settled a case where an employee had been denied leave to go on a religious pilgrimage. Continue reading
MEMBER ALERT! Employers are now required by a new federal regulation to minimize the potential for workplace violence, whether it comes from members of the public seeking help, co-workers, or anyone else allowed into a workplace. Continue reading
You will see some small changes with today’s new articles. We have reduced the size of the headlines, and added a subtitle at the beginning of the article to remind union leaders to pass these articles on to members, stewards or even other union activists. Information only creates union power when you give it to those who can use it. After all, isn’t that why our times is called the Information Generation? We have also made a small change in our Motto to reflect the linkage to what we are doing and the power that various mills have produced for our society over generations.
Congrats to AFGE for making available its guide for recruiting newly hired employees. There is probably no better time to recruiting an employee than during his or her first day or two on the job. If you do not already have an effective routine for doing this, borrow liberally from AFGE.
While this Administration seems to understand the economic value of federal employees doing work rather than turning government work into profit opportunities for private venture capitalists, that can change. Continue reading