MAKING NEW PROPOSALS AFTER BARGAINING BEGINS
There is a little-known court case that authorizes union negotiators to make totally new proposals in the middle of negotiations. Continue reading
THE REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION SEARCH AREA
How far must an agency search in seeking a position to which it can reassign an employee needing a reasonable accommodation? Here is what EEOC said recently. “We emphasize that a federal agency’s obligation under the Rehabilitation Act to offer reassignment is not limited to vacancies within a particular department, facility, or geographical area. Instead, the extent of the agency’s search for a vacant position is an issue of undue hardship. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation at Q. 27. Accordingly, absent undue hardship, the agency must conduct an agency-wide search for vacant, funded positions that the employee can perform with or without reasonable accommodation. See Julius C. v. Dep’t of the Air Force, EEOC Appeal No. 0120151295 (June 16, 2017).” Bill A., v. Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General, EEOC Nos. 0120182340, 2019005819 (2020)
UNLAWFUL DISCLOSURE OF EMPLOYEE EEO ACTIVITY TO OTHERS
EEOC just wrote that the statutory anti-retaliation provisions prohibit any adverse treatment that is based on a retaliatory motive and is reasonably likely to deter a reasonable employee from engaging in protected activity. Although petty slights and trivial annoyances are not actionable, adverse actions or threats to take adverse actions such as reprimands, negative evaluations, and harassment are actionable. It then lowered the boom on a Navy manager who told someone without a business-related need to know of an employee’s past EEO activity. Continue reading
IS AFGE THE UNION OF THE CENTURY?
That is what one reader suggested. So, we decided to look into how it has done since the year 2000. The most powerful piece of evidence supporting the reader’s claim is the increase in AFGE’s membership since 2000. AFGE reported 197,096 members in the year 2000. In FY 2018, the latest report, it reported 332,977 members. The only way to describe that is with the word WOW! Our unofficial count shows that AFGE has had a net increase in dues paying members greater than all the other federal sector unions combined did this century. AFGE unquestionably has figured out how to motivate through values and incentives leaders and staff up and down the line to build membership—the lifeblood of any organization. If all the other unions in the country had grown the way AFGE did this century, our national values would be very different than they are today. Continue reading
ATTORNEY FEE INSANITY MUST STOP
We will admit that the greed-bordering-on thievery of two particular attorneys has launched us on a now four-year long effort to bring some change to how fees are awarded. Of course, systemic flaws in the attorney fee program such as paying attorneys over $800 an hour added some thrust to our effort as well. After opening this morning’s e-mail traffic, we have yet another motivator. It seems that the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court has refused to stop an attorney from taking $23,000 of the $25,000 that he won for some clients in an FLSA suit. So, if some poor worker was screwed out of overtime pay by her employer for a year and filed a lawsuit, the U.S. Courts think it is only fair that her attorneys rather than her employer be allowed to screw out of any overtime pay winnings. The court held this is reasonable because otherwise attorneys might not want to take employee cases if they risk not winning a bundle of cash for themselves. There was no hint that the court recognized that now employees may not want to take cases if winning them will only result in 90% of the cash going to the attorney. Continue reading
HOW FAR BACK CAN A BACK PAY CLAIM GO?
We are getting questions about how far back an arbitrator can order an agency to grant back pay as if there is some legal limit on it. We are not going to get into the laws allegedly limiting how far back arbitrator can go. Rather, we thought we would point out a few cases where arbitrators and judges have ordered agencies to go beyond six years prior to the date the grievance or claim was filed, even if that means decades.
Continue reading
TELEWORK AS A REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
EEOC has held that a request for telework or a shorter commuting time because of a disability is a request for reasonable accommodation and triggers an agency’s responsibility under the Rehabilitation Act. For example, in Jody L. v. Dep’t of the Air Force, EEOC No. 0120151351 (2018) the agency violated the Rehabilitation Act when it denied complainant’s request for situational telework due to inclement weather; in Doria R. v. Nat’l Sci. Found., EEOC No. 0120152916 (2017) the agency’s ten-month delay in granting complainant’s request for additional telework days violated the Rehabilitation Act; and in Hupka v. Dep’t of Def., EEOC No. 02960003 (1997) the agency violated the Rehab Act when it refused to allow complainant whose long commute exacerbated his disability to work at home or at a local alternative work site. EEOC just added another case to that line of precedent. After an employee showed that three days a week of telework would remove the obstacles presented by his handicap, the agency failed to show that… Continue reading
BOSS FEARING BIAS SUIT GETS ‘FISHING BUDDY’ POLICE CHIEF TO ARREST EMPLOYEE
We just have to share this “Washington Post” story. Click here.
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
LIES & RACISM FROM THE VETERAN AFFAIRS
An employee alleged that the VA treated her disparately in not selecting her for the position of RN Manger/Specialty Clinic (Nurse Manager), and it sure looks to us that VA managers lied to hide their blatant racism. On top of that higher-level VA management decided to defend their behavior. The EEOC record shows that the employee, who we will call Arleen, was an African-American over 40, applied and was qualified for the Nurse Manager position; was considered for the position in question; was not selected for the position despite her qualifications; and the selectee was outside of her protected classes. In other words, she met the prima facie discrimination criteria that forced the agency to explain its decision. Continue reading