Posted on February 7, 2023 by AdminUN

A RELIGIOUS WAR IS COMING TO YOUR OFFICE SOON

Later this year it is all but certain that union reps’ lives will be a little more complicated—and maybe a lot more. The Supreme Court is all but certain to substantially increase the pressure on employers to accommodate employee requests to practice their religion.  Under the current Supreme Court precedent, it is almost impossible for an employee to demand a reasonable accommodation that requires a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) provision be waived or ignored so s/he can participate in some religious activity. We expect that this Court will make it a lot easier to insist that bargaining agreements be overridden so employees can participate in religious activity. Here are a few examples of what we expect to see soon after the Court’s new decision which led us to use the war analogy. Continue reading →

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Posted on February 7, 2023 by AdminUN

DO IT LIKE BEZOS DID

Those looking to build membership in their union can learn a very important lesson from recalling how Jeff Bezos built Amazon from a single product bookstore into a mega-retailer. The short answer is that while he could have made a comfortable living just selling books he knew that not everyone was interested in buying books. The secret to attracting more customers was in offering different kinds of products because each product brought a new constituency into the Amazon jungle. While unions can scrap along focusing on just two or three issues members are interested in, such as only grieving disciplinary actions, overtime denials, and evaluation issues, that is not going to get them an Amazonian “market share” of the bargaining unit. The more workplace issues that a union monitors, analyzes and enforces the more issue constituencies it is going to arose and attract. So, we thought we would share some of the many kinds of grievances we have been involved in that brought in new members. Hopefully, the list will trigger some new ideas for your representational efforts. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 31, 2023 by AdminUN

IS IT “SHIRKING” OR JUST OLD FASHION LYING?

The political extremists who see unions as their enemies (and most are) and who would give managers unreviewable dictatorial power to fire whomever they wish for any reason they wish are at it again.  Their latest whine is that arbitration of employee terminations is bad because arbitrators reinstate employees more often than the MSPB. It is true that they do, but the authors of this argument “shirk” the very good reasons why this happens. I am not sure whether to pity their laziness or condemn them as habitual liars. But while I figure that out here are the reasons why arbitrators justly reinstate a higher percentage of terminated federal employees. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 31, 2023 by AdminUN

WHY DOESN’T YOUR UNION BARGAIN OVER MONEY?

Although only a few federal employees bargaining units are allowed to negotiate over salaries, virtually all fed units are allowed to demand increases in indirect ways of increasing their members’ total compensation. We listed in the two following posts the many bargaining demands unions can make that boost take-home pay. If your union agreements do not address these issues, you should be asking why not. For bargaining proposal ideas check out COMPENSATION INCREASES UNIONS CAN BARGAIN(Pt.1) and COMPENSATION INCREASES UNIONS CAN BARGAIN (Pt. 2)

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Posted on January 24, 2023 by AdminUN

GRIEVING A FAILURE TO MENTOR OR DEVELOP EMPLOYEES

Very few labor agreements or grievances address an employee’s right to career development opportunities. But a new case out of the EEOC suggests that this is a field union reps should think more aggressively about. The Commission upheld an employee’s claim of sex discrimination in how the agency chose to mentor people and detail them into career enhancing situations. To reach that conclusion the EEOC, an arm of the federal government, decided that the denial of career development opportunities can be just as much of an adverse action against an employee as termination or failure to promote. Consequently, union reps stand on firm ground now when they ask to address those issues in negotiations or file a grievance over them. For example, … Continue reading →

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Posted on January 24, 2023 by AdminUN

DON’T MAKE THE GRIEVANCE MISTAKE THIS UNION DID

Who knows why they did it or even if it was knowing and deliberate. But a union that normally represents state and locally police ripped the rug out from under a federal employee’s grievance by citing the wrong section of the Family Medical Leave Act at every stage of the grievance. It cited the provisions that apply to state and local folks, not the ones that apply to feds.  The primary lesson to be learned here is that unless your contract requires you to cite a specific section of a law or regulation, DON’T.  In our experience, … Continue reading →

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Posted on January 16, 2023 by AdminUN

A BIT OF WIGI/ALOC GOOD NEWS FROM MSPB

Some people call it a Within-Grade Increase (WIGI) issue while others use the Acceptable Level of Competence (ALOC) label. Both refer to the salary step increases employees qualify for periodically.  While it is rare that a manager ever denies a step increase, denials do happen.  And when they do it is important for the union to know the unusual details of challenging a denial of this 3% salary increase. We have posted three important pieces on this issue which we list and link at the end of this one.  But MSPB just issued what it calls a precedential decision dealing with the right to challenge a denial, giving employees and their unions a new option. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 16, 2023 by AdminUN

CBP DEAF TO DEAF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

A person EEOC identifies as Antwan applied to be a Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Agriculture Specialist where he would check for food and plants being brought into the US illegally by travelers or importers. He was and is “profoundly deaf” and due to a speech impairment uses American Sign Language. Although he met all the other requirements, CBP medically disqualified him because it concluded he would “have difficulties, communicating using a telephone to gather and exchange information and communicating verbally with members of the staff and public…Complainant’s hearing loss and speech impairment…would likely affect the safe and efficient performance of the essential job tasks.” Here is how Antwan overcame CBP’s inability to hear the law and wound up with years of back pay, other benefits and the job. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 10, 2023 by AdminUN

WHAT A GRIEVANCE REMEDY REQUEST SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Few things bother us more than arbitration decisions sustaining a grievance only to find that the union did not ask for everything it was entitled to get.  So, we like to pass along examples of cases from arbitrators, EEOC, MSPB, FLRA, etc. that contain complete remedies.  We hope it will prompt unions to ask for more than a cease and desist order when drafting grievances.  Here is a great example case.  Continue reading →

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Posted on January 10, 2023 by AdminUN

RETALIATION/REPRISAL IS EASIER TO PROVE THAN EEO HARASSMENT

Not long ago we wrote about how EEOC rejected an employee’s claim of a hostile work environment, but sustained his charge of EEO reprisal based on the same facts.  The point of that post was that it is easier to prove reprisal than hostility. A new EEOC decision makes that point again, but based on circumstances that might surprise you. The employee did not have to prove he was passed over for a permanent promotion; it was sufficient to show that the agency failed to give him temporary or acting assignments which would have improved his experience within the Agency and supported a lateral career move. Most unions never even think about challenging how these temporary career-building assignments are passed out. Continue reading →

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