Attacking the scores of a promotion rating panel is hard to do under traditional labor law. But, if you can find a reason to allege that there was not just a violation of a contract provision, such as the need for all promotion actions to be “systematic and equitable,” but also an EEO violation, you have a better chance of winning the case. EEO case law requires agency rating panels to carry a burden that most contract grievances do not. The latest example of this is a case (David T. v. Megan Brennan, Postmaster, EEOC No. 2019001172 (2019)) that resulted in an employee getting retroactively promoted and compensatory damages in addition to back pay. EEOC said the rating panel members “failed to provide any specificity when asked why successful candidates were recommended and why Complainant was not.” EEOC demands a lot of specificity that contract grievance arbitrators do not. For example, EEOC wrote … Continue reading
The short answer is that it’s something the agency must engage in to avoid violating the law and incurring huge financial penalties. The slightly longer answer is that it can often require an agency to bypass or waive its own rules and regulations to help an employee avoid losing his/her job or just some benefit of the job. A complete answer can be found in the new EEOC decision Irina T. v Robert Wilkie, Secretary, DVA, EEOC No. 0120180568 (2019) where an employee with a disability was denied a request for additional leave beyond what FMLA provides. Irina was a … Continue reading
If you are wondering why The Donald and his fellow tribesmen are bothering with union rights at a time when China, Iran, Moscow and a half-dozen other life-and-death threats are looming over our heads, here is a very thoughtful piece of journalism that spells out the very selfish reasons for the anti-union fire. hence, the Executive Orders designed to gut organized labor.
Our fellow bloggers at the Employment & Labor Insider have done Americans a great service bring bringing this national scourge to our attention. Please check out their posting entitled, “Lego-Based Workplace Harassment Will Not Be Tolerated.”
Given this may be the most important check a local union has on its union’s national office, we were only too glad to help when one local union recently asked us to lead it through a Montrose process. They were not sure which national union they wanted to affiliate with, but they were positive they wanted to get away from the union they were with. The Montrose option permits local unions to easily and quickly disaffiliate from their national union and join another union or go independent. The steps in the process are discussed well in NAGE, 25 FLRA 728 (1987). Continue reading
As we all wait to see how Abbott and Kiko put their Trumpian scent an employee’s right to get attorney fees when back pay is awarded, unions need to prepare for the worst case scenario. That may have been described in a 1984 Comptroller General case titled, Leland M. Wilson: Claim for Attorney Fees and Interest, CG B-205373(04/24/84). In short, the CG examined the law and suggested the only time employees can get attorney fees if their case involves a grievance over an adverse action or prohibited personnel practice. Here is what the CG wrote, Continue reading