Posted on May 13, 2022 by AdminUN

BYE-BYE BWANA JIM; WELCOME MS. GRUNDMANN TO FLRA

Finalllllllllly!  This morning the Senate voted to confirm Susan Tsui Grundmann to take a seat at the FLRA.   STG is one of the most respected, professional, and knowledgeable neutrals in the federal sector community, and will undoubtedly return FLRA to a place where judicial scholarship rules rather than political retribution. Coupled with that wonderful news is the fact that with her being confirmed, Bwana Jim Abbott is out the door. Jim will be forever known as someone who was driven by a sense of tribal justice rather than legal scholarship. He knew he was put in that job to screw over unions and federal employees and he did just that no matter how often a federal circuit court said he was wrong. He rarely let an arbitrator’s award of back pay stand–seeming to take particular delight in taking overtime pay away from those who earned it.  Moreover, he imposed interpretations of the statute that increased rather than decreased the ambiguity of law, which is how a country moves from a government of laws to a government of political appointee biases. Most of all he set a new bar for what it means to be a political hypocrite. Here is a press release from NFFE with more details about the confirmation.

Posted in FLRA | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on May 9, 2022 by AdminUN

FREE EEOC WEBINAR MAY 11–REGISTER FAST

EEOC is running a free webinar geared toward union reps as much as anyone else. It is scheduled for 1 pm eastern time on the 11th and will focus on the latest EEOC/EEO developments. If you are interested, move quickly to get one of the slots by registering here. 

Posted in EEO/Discrimination | Leave a comment

Posted on May 9, 2022 by AdminUN

BIDEN’S THINLY DISGUISED WAGE THEFT PROGRAM

President Biden deserves gobs of credit for rescuing federal employees and their unions from the intense hate the prior administration had focused on them. But let’s not pretend that all is now peachy for feds or their representatives. One particularly ugly smudge on the Biden image is an organized wage theft program he has done nothing about nor even recognized as such, i.e., 5 CFR 335.103(c). Continue reading →

Posted in Details, Promotion/Hiring | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on May 2, 2022 by AdminUN

THE AD/HD WORKER’S ADA PROTECTION

In our experience, too many feds do not recognize what physical and mental conditions are protected by federal anti-discrimination statutes. EEOC is letting International Paper, Inc. know that the company violated law when it failed to accommodate the needs of an employee with an Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder. Here is what EEOC had to say about the rights of the AD/HD folks.

Posted in Disability | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on May 2, 2022 by AdminUN

“PROBATIONER” IN LINE FOR 8 YEARS BACK PAY

Why did we put the word probationer in quotes? Because MSPB just issued a decision highlighting that there are times when the agency might consider someone a probationer, but s/he is not. In this case, although the Dep’t. of Interior did not know that, Brandy Branstetter did—and he is now in line for eight years of back pay, health insurance coverage, promotions, step increases, seniority, retirement credit, etc. Here is how Brandy did what most agencies lead their new employees to believe is impossible, i.e., overturn the termination of a probationer. Continue reading →

Posted in Probation Period | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 28, 2022 by AdminUN

FREE FLRA TRAINING; SIGN UP FAST

The availability of slots in these training programs is going to go fast.  So, look over the schedule of courses and sign up soon for FLRA-run webinars on Investigatory Interviews, Good Faith Bargaining, Illegal Union Bypasses, Formal Discussions, the Duty of Fair Representation, ULP’s and more.

Posted in FLRA | Tagged | Leave a comment

`

Posted on April 28, 2022 by AdminUN

BWANA ABBOTT’S SAFARI

One of FLRA’s surviving Trump appointees, Jim Abbott, is the labor law equivalent of the great white hunters of Colonial Africa who ravaged its wildlife and exploited its population just for the fun of it- or maybe it was just to prove their manhood to themselves and others.  In Jim’s case, he is arguably out to kill off any and every legal precedent that grants a benefit to employees or unions. His current safari plans include bagging the legendary Laffey Matrix, protected by long-standing FLRA precedent.    For those of you unfamiliar with this particular species of the federal labor law Serengeti, it is a magnificent beast. It often forces agencies to pay union attorneys up to $919.00 for each hour they spend on an arbitration, ULP, MSPB or EEOC victory, no matter how competent the attorney, how routine their work, or how little their union actually pays them.  Because that almost never exceeds $125.00 an hour, it generates a very nice, non-dues income flow for unions. So, we thought we would share with you how we see Bwana Jim (BJ) stalking his prey despite several legal barriers protecting the Laffey. Continue reading →

Posted in Attorney Fees | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 26, 2022 by AdminUN

MANAGER’S EEO-RELATED THREAT IS ILLEGAL AND COSTLY

An employee, who EEOC calls Shelby, had a meeting with a high-level manager to describe how he believed his first line supervisor was discriminating against him.  When the employee finished outlining the allegations and facts, the manager told him, “if anything [Shelby] said was untrue, [he] would be terminated from [the Agency].” When the employee filed a complaint with EEOC, the Commission wrote that we, “find the underlying warning … to be retaliatory. We have long held that the truth or falsity of a complainant’s allegations goes to the merits of the complaint and is irrelevant as to whether he or she can bring a claim of discrimination.”  EEOC’s concern is that warning such as that could dissuade a reasonable person from engaging in protected EEO activity for fear that an unsuccessful EEO complaint could result in disciplinary action. It ordered the agency to meet with the employee to determine how much it should pay him in compensatory damages. Check out Shelby R. v. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Sec’y, Dep’t of Homeland Security, EEOC No. 2020005406 (2022)

Posted in Retaliation | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on April 22, 2022 by AdminUN

BIRTHDAY PARTIES AND PANIC ATTACKS

Although the jury’s decision already has received wide publicity, it is such an interesting case that we thought we would make sure none of our readers missed it.  It seems management forced an employee to attend a birthday party it threw for him despite his request that they not do so.  While there, he had a panic attack that scared and offended some co-workers.  Management sent him home for the rest of the week to recover and when he returned to the job, it fired him on the grounds that his unpredictability made him a threat to the staff.  Most union reps would know enough to challenge that as an unjust termination, but did you also see the potential EEO disability discrimination issue.  The employee’s lawyer did, and filed an EEO charge.  When the case got to court, he not only got his job back, but the jury put an additional $450,000 in his pocket to compensate him for the damage done his mental and physical health as well as his reputation.  If the union had only grieved this as an unjust termination the employee would not have qualified for any of the $450,000.  Cases like this highlight the value of looking for the EEO angle in every grievance.

Posted in Disability, Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on April 18, 2022 by AdminUN

GRIEVANCE STRATEGY ISSUES- Part 5 (Remedies)

We are back with Part 5 of our Grievance Strategy series that aims to give union reps a deep look at how to deal with the six most critical parts of a union grievance. As with the four previous editions (See the URL links below), let’s start with an example of a grievance situation.  Imagine that a big promotion decision was announced yesterday and this morning one of the union’s members, Joe Hill, asked you to file a grievance on his behalf.  He points out that he knows he was on the seven-person Best Qualified list #21-09, but was never interviewed despite the contract provision (Article 13, Section 5 Ranking and Selection Obligations Subsection (B)(3)(d)), requiring that “all those on the BQ list be treated uniformly.” Further imagine that you have charged the agency with not only violating Article 13, Section 5 of the agreement, but also related laws and regulations such as the civil rights acts, the prohibited personnel practices, and CFR requirements. It is now time to describe the remedy you want. Many stewards will ask that the agency re-rank the candidates consistent with law, regulation and the agreement as well as give Joe Hill priority consideration if his ranking changes. A few more will add that Hill and the union should be granted “all other appropriate remedies.” They know that phrase gives the arbitrator the power to impose other corrective actions beyond the re-ranking and priority remedies should further developments in the case show they are needed. But often an arbitrator will not think of what other remedies might be appropriate even when you give her/him the power to do anything appropriate. So, it pays to include that phrase AND to list examples, but not an exhaustive list, of the other remedies that you want the arbitrator to order. Here is what would be on our list and why. Continue reading →

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration, Promotion/Hiring, Remedies | Tagged | Leave a comment