This is a new one for us. Apparently, the agency supervisors allowed employees to so harass a transgender co-worker that EEOC has ordered it to train all its employees in victim’s work area on the law related to LGBTQIA+ harassment. ” The training shall address how coworkers can recognize and help prevent a hostile work environment on the bases of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.” wrote EEOC. Check out Edmond C., v. Frank Kendall, Sec’y, Dep’t. of the Air Force, EEOC No. 2022003336 (2023)
A recent FLRA decision opens with these three sentences, “In this case, Arbitrator Anthony R. Orman, found that the Agency violated Article 21, Section 4 of the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement by failing to distribute overtime in a “fair and equitable manner.”[ But he denied the Union’s requested backpay remedy because the Union failed to show which employees were available and would have accepted the opportunity to work the overtime. We find that the Arbitrator’s denial of backpay is not contrary to the Back Pay Act (BPA). Continue reading
While he would have much preferred a career as a star quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, all us feds are far better with him scoring big changes in the human resources arena. Rob Shriver has been acting director of OPM for only a few months now. But, last week he finalized a regulatory change that will now permit federal employees temporarily detailed to perform higher graded work for as long as they are in the job. All they need do is meet the minimum qualifications of the job. (More on this later) Continue reading
Occasionally, an agency asserts that it cannot legally grant back pay for claims more than six years old due to appropriation laws. Given that it can take more than six years to resolve certain cases, the employees with claims going back more than six years lose money if the agency argument is accepted. In fact, if they retired more than six years ago, they would lose all their back pay entitlement no matter if they had an otherwise legitimate right to ten, twenty, or thirty years of retroactive compensation. So, we have made it a point to let Fedsmill.com readers know that there is a bundle of cases out there where federal employees have received back pay retroactive for decades. Our post entitled, “How Far Back Can A Back Pay Claim Go?” lists a dozen examples and there is a new one to add. Check out the FedManager.com story entitled, “30-Year-Old Job Discrimination Lawsuit Settled by USMS.” The U.S. Marshals Service has agreed to compensate employees and former employees for violations of their rights dating back as far as 1994. Apparently, the urban legend about some appropriation laws barring payments more than six years retroactive did not bother the Marshals Service, which is part of the Dep’t. of Justice. Continue reading
The employee was a GS-11 Claims Specialist with SSA working in an office alongside 15 other GS-11 Claims Specialists and two GS-12’s. He was also a combat vet diagnosed with PTSD in 2012. While he worked at home during the COVID office closures, he encountered the following symptoms upon return: feeling overly stressed and worried; marked weight loss; hair lose; forgetfulness; irritability; anxiety; and due to a hostile encounter with a co-worker he testified “I fear for my safely. I have nightmares that he is chasing me around the office with a gun. I’m not sleeping.” Moreover, the record showed that other employees in the office with physical disabilities were allowed full-time telework because they were unable to drive—a physical disability versus his mental one. When his request to work from home was denied, he filed an EEO complaint not just alleging improper denial of a reasonable accommodation, but also that he was treated disparately under the Rehabilitation Act. Continue reading