Posted on April 25, 2023 by AdminUN

LOOKING BACK TO 2011

Fedsmill.com went live 12 years (and 1,300 posts) ago, which makes it easy to forget some of the information we thought union activists would want. So, we are going to reach back and resurrect posts from the archives that we think were particularly relevant and should not be lost to history. Here are three from those firwst four months of operation.

  • FIVE UNION RIGHTS YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER STEWARD ALERT!     We all know that union activists cannot be fired, denied a benefit, or even poorly evaluated if the decision is based on or even related to our choice to be union … Click on FEDSMILL.com to continue reading
  • QUESTION: WHEN IS A PIP A ULP?  ANSWER: Almost always. Click on FEDSMILL.com to continue reading
  • TEN REASONS TO BE A UNION REPRESENTATIVE  There are lots of good reasons to be a union rep, whether you get involved in grievances, negotiations, arbitrations, employee meetings, or information gathering & analysis.  Here are ten that we hope lead … Click on FEDSMILL.com to continue reading.
Posted in Union Rights | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 25, 2023 by AdminUN

EMPLOYEE GETS $890,000 FOR SICK BUILDING EXPOSURE

A Dep’t. of Agriculture employee informed the agency that the mold spores in the agency building were causing her significant health problems. When she asked for approval for full-time telework it took the agency nearly three months to approve that.  Shortly after approval she suffered a near-fatal pulmonary attack which resulted in “organ deficits” including dysfunctional kidneys, cardiac fibrillation, and diabetes, and left her hospitalized for over three months. She filed an EEO charge alleging the agency’s delay in approving full-time telework led to her hospitalization. The agency argued that it should not be held liable for a building’s problem given that it is a mere tenant.  EEOC rejected the defense, upheld the idea that the agency was accountable for the delay in approving full-time telework and ordered the agency to cut the employee a check for over $890,000.  In short, unions and employees should not be reluctant to demand reasonable accommodations and monetary damages when the federal agency is merely a tenant to in a private building with health issues.  Check out Tien E., v. Thomas J. Vilsack, Sec’y., Dep’t of Agriculture, EEOC No. 2020001343 (2023)

 

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 19, 2023 by AdminUN

THIS FLRA DECISION IS POPPYCOCK, DRIVEL, TWADDLE & TOSH

A union grieved to block implementation of a new term agreement, portions of which were imposed by FSIP.   FLRA ruled that the union’s grievance was defective because it was “directly” challenging a Panel decision when only “indirect” challenges are permitted. (See FEA-SR v. FLRA)  The headline of this post tells you what we think of this decision.  Here is why. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining Law, FSIP | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on April 11, 2023 by AdminUN

IF YOU ARE GRIEVING THE LOSS OF TELEWORK…

think about the remedy you are requesting.  Whether citing a ULP violation for a failure to bargain to impasse before implementing telework reductions or some contract violation, the simple remedy is that you want the agency to return folks to telework until the law or contract criteria are met. However, a more appropriate remedy is to ask management to restore sick or annual leave where employees would not have had to take leave if they had remained on telework.  For example, the person who had to leave work an hour early to attend a parent-teacher conference but who would not have needed the leave if still working from home.  Ditto if they came to work late because of an early morning medical appointment. Canvas your unit for any examples because not only does that undo the tangible harm done employees, but it also means the union can claim attorney fees. If you cannot get examples before the arbitration, ask the arbitrator to establish a post-decision  claims period during which employees so harmed can petition for leave reimbursement—and the union can thereafter ask for fees.

Posted in Telework | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 11, 2023 by AdminUN

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF ARBITRATORS

If you understand how hard it is to keep goldfish thriving, then you know something about sustaining arbitrators.  They need constant care and attention throughout a case.  Ignore one tiny detail and your case ends up flushed down a toilet. For example, FLRA just issued a decision wherein an arbitrator told the union to pursue one of its claims related to an employee’s suspension with someone other than himself.  My first reaction was to call that arbitrator a wimp afraid to take on an unusual issue unique to the federal sector.  But when I read past the first few paragraphs, I realized the union failed to feed him properly. By that I mean… Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 10, 2023 by AdminUN

STRIKING THE DELICATE BALANCE: RELIGION AND PRONOUNS

Unions are not going to be able to sit back and watch employers struggle with this issue.  Sooner or later an LGBTQ+ member is going to wander into the union office asking for help with co-workers who refuse to use the pronouns they prefer. Then a few minutes after they leave those same co-workers will come in asking for union help getting a religious accommodation that relieves them of having to be pronoun conscious. Seconds after they leave and just as you are reaching for a fist-full of aspirins the HR manager will call to tell you that he is not yet sure who he is going to be disciplined, but someone is getting it in the neck with this religion-pronoun battle in Group 6 if the union does not calm everyone down pronto. Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Transgender | Tagged | 2 Comments

Posted on April 4, 2023 by AdminUN

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO CONDUCT JOB INTERVIEWS

Like it or not, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tsunami is only slightly off-shore and certain to roar through our lives shortly sweeping away so many of our traditions.  One of them is the job interview where we sit in front a three or so folks who pepper us with questions and try to peer into our souls, culminating in a score or ranking that all too often is as much a work of fiction as a Stephen King novel. Check out this recent Washington Post story about how AI will soon take over the job interviewing function. Those unions whose members place a lot of importance on getting promoted or otherwise selected for something had best start thinking about what protections and improvements they want to demand at the bargaining table. We can think of about a dozen, but near the top of the list would be a study that compares the results of the first 100 or so AI interviews to the 100 done just prior to AI’s arrival.

Posted in Promotion/Hiring | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 4, 2023 by AdminUN

UNIONS ARE MISSING OUT ON INTERIM TERMINATION RELIEF

When a union takes an employee’s removal case to arbitration and wins, the agency typically will not reinstate the employee if it decides to file an appeal with the Federal Circuit court. If it does appeal, the employee sits home another 9 to 12 months without an income waiting for the court to decide what to do.  But if s/he won reinstatement from MSPB, the agency would have to pay the employee salary and benefits beginning the day after the decision is issued by the MSPB Administrative Judge even if the agency files a court appeal. This does not sound fair, and unions should move to correct it. Continue reading →

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, Remedies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on March 28, 2023 by AdminUN

YODA, KING SOLOMON & ARBITRATORS

In my experience, most arbitrators see themselves as the fruit of a mythical, time-travel-assisted coupling of Yoda and the infamous baby-splitting King Solomon.  Their wisdom and power are, therefore, boundless.  Yet, they do not seem capable of lifting a  light saber, much less a circa 950 BC bronze one, to help themselves when their profession is threatened with extinction. During the last White House Administration, the President installed two political operatives at FLRA who focused their party’s political revenge efforts primarily on making arbitration useless for unionized federal employees. They did so by overturning over 100 arbitration decisions thereby voiding millions in employee back pay entitlements. They got away with it because in 99% of the cases they had the final word and there was nothing a federal court could do. Yet, as far as I can tell not one arbitrator, and certainly not any of their associations, tried to push back on this planned effort to neuter arbitrators and arbitration. Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on March 28, 2023 by AdminUN

WHEN DINOSAURS DECIDE FULL-TIME TELEWORK REQUESTS

With our apologies to the dinosaur community, we have to say we immediately thought of the stereotypical behemoths when we read about an agency official who decided that “telework was not an entitlement” and categorically forbade “supervisors, military, and administrative personnel and anyone on alternate work schedules from participating in regular and recurring telework.” We especially focused on the last phrase which penalized employees by denying them one benefit Congress and the President have endorsed because they took advantage of another benefit Congress and the President endorsed. Fortunately, this modern-day dino ran into his own personal meteorite compliments of EEOC. Continue reading →

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations | Leave a comment