Posted on April 8, 2025 by AdminUN

THE RIGHT TO USE ONE’S OWN CAR

Lots of feds travel for the job and lots of them are told to use a rental car for the travel rather than their own vehicle.  When a Border Patrol employee decided to use her own car instead, her agency refused to pay her the mileage costs between her hotel and job site for the 50 days she was there. The agency simply said she was not authorized to charge for  her POV, but told to share a rental car with another Agent. So, the employee filed an appeal with the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) seeking reimbursement for about 2,000 miles. The Board dispensed with the case easily by  telling Customs and Border Protection to simply read the rules. It pointed to two in particular. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 8, 2025 by AdminUN

WHAT IF YOU CAN PERFORM  YOUR ESSENTIAL DUTIES WITHOIUT ACCOMMODATION

An employee admitted under oath that he could perform the essential duties of his position without a disability accommodation.  So, it was no surprise when the Federal District Court held that he was not entitled to an accommodation. But it was a surprise when the Federal Court of Appeals ruled that even employees able to do the essential duties without an accommodation can be entitled to the accommodation nonetheless. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 2, 2025 by AdminUN

CBPO SPECIAL RETIREMENT COVERAGE ABUSE

Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs) have moderately different retirement benefits than most other feds.  It is because they are considered law enforcement personnel. Not long ago their HR office informed an employee, Stacey, that she was not eligible to receive CBPO enhanced Special Retirement Coverage (SRC), contrary to what it had previously indicated when she entered on duty in 2010. HR said it was because her duties as a CBPO were considered “secondary” and therefore not eligible. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 2, 2025 by AdminUN

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP

One of the union administration issues we are not going to let go of is where a union president fires a long-time staff member without appeal rights or severance pay. The examples of abuse just keep coming. For instance, a union staff supervisor, let’s call her Monica, after 14 years working for a union was called in and summarily fired by the National President (NP).  Her “offense” was that when visiting a local on business, she got into a conversation with the local officials who asked about the NP’s health. The NP was furious that she had talked about his health with members although his particular health problem was obvious to anyone. He announced that he could no longer trust her and had her escorted to her office to pick up personal items and then walked out the front door.  No written charges, no appeal right, no severance pay, and an employment record that now says she was fired. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 2, 2025 by AdminUN

WHOOPS, I FORGOT MY PASSPORT, WALLET, LUGGAGE, ETC.

What are feds to do if they have booked an airline flight, but when they get to the airport they realize they left something vital at home? They rebook the flight, of course, usually through SATO. But who pays for the costs of the rebooking? The employee who made the mistake or the agency? The Department of the Navy decided that the employee would have to pay because he was not a “prudent traveler.”  The CBCA decided Navy was wrong. Continue reading →

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Posted on March 25, 2025 by AdminUN

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE TRUMP RIFS

At the White House’s request agencies are preparing their systems to execute RIF’s in the next few months. One defense to a RIF is to argue that it has an inordinate impact on one or more classes of employees protected under the Civil Rights Acts. Because every employee is protected in one class or another under those laws, including the white male, unions should have already started to request the data they will need to determine if there will be an illegal adverse impact on any class.  The easiest way to do that is to file an information request with the agency requesting the performance appraisal scores of each employee for the last four years by race, gender, national origin, age, year of score, etc. It  would be wise to request other data as well, e.g., each employee’s job title, grade, location, SCD date, veteran’s status, competitive area, competitive level, etc. And of course, you do not need to have the agency identify the employee’s name or other PPI. Raw data will do. Agencies will use these scores to decide how many extra points to give employees in determining their RIF scores. The more points, the less likelihood that the employee will be RIF’d. For example, …   Continue reading →

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Posted on March 25, 2025 by AdminUN

BE ON THE LOOKOUT (BOLO ALERT)

The senseless, wasteful, vindictive RIFs are coming.  Most unions have negotiated RIF procedures into their agreements, which is going to seriously damage their ability to demand negotiations before the RIF can take place. That’s thanks to the covered-by doctrine. (More on that soon.) But there is a possibility that unions can slow the RIF train down if they can find that the agency has made a change in anything that plays a significant role in the RIF determination process. For example, has the agency changed competitive areas, competitive levels, performance appraisal details, etc.?  If so, the union should demand to bargain as soon as it gets official notice of a pending RIF. The agency will probably ignore you under direct orders from Tesla Headquarters, the real seat of our government. But the union can then file a ULP grievance asking to overturn the RIF, reinstate everyone with back pay and benefits, adjust annuities for those who have retired in the interim, and finish bargaining.  So, scour your agency regs for changes, dig up the former competitive area/level documents, file information requests, etc. The potential payoff is huge to so many families.

 

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Posted on March 18, 2025 by AdminUN

FMLA BRAIN TEASER

One of our favorite blogs is operated by the law firm of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete and entitled “Employment and Labor Insider.” It posted a piece this week about an odd FMLA situation that challenges all us to think more deeply what this law does for our members.  Click here to read their FMLA Brain Teaser.

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Posted on March 18, 2025 by AdminUN

WHAT RETURNING PROBATIONERS ARE NOW OWED

Now that thousands of probationary employees are coming back to their desks, it is time to pay attention  to the remedies they are entitled to. It is a longer list than you might imagine. Here is our list of things local union reps need to pay attention to. We suggest reps seek out retrurning probationers to inform them of all they are owsed, suggest they contact the union if something go wrong, remind them that it was unions that got them their jobs back and of course leave them a SF-1187. Continue reading →

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Posted on March 11, 2025 by AdminUN

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IN A RIF, MASS FIRING OF PROBATIONERS, DIRECTED REASSIGNMENT REMOVAL OR DEFERRED RESIGNATION

The lethal litigators at the Gilbert Employment Laws, PC in Silver Spring Maryland are working hard to help federal employees.  They not only filed a well-researched class action with the MSPB to overturn the harm to damaged feds, but they are putting together helpful blog posts.  We borrowed the title of one for the title of this post and are sending it along to you, if you click here. We are sure that you have members that are intensely interested in the unemployment benefits available to them once the Musk machete takes a swing at them.

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