If the Washington Post story is accurate, and we highly suspect it is, the Dept. Of Homeland Security just agreed to pay about 100 employees an average of $240,000.00 each in back pay to make up for promotions unjustly denied them as long ago as 1990. Our compliments to these employees for hanging in there so long and to the law firm that made it all happen.
Understanding the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a requirement for representatives on both sides of the table. We have spent some time touching on it in Fedsmill, but there is a good series coming out of the firm of Jackson Lewis that we recommend, especially if you are the local union or ER/LR expert in FMLA matters. Check out, “What Am I Doing Wrong? Common FMLA Mistakes” a four-part series so far that we hope continues for a while. We are linking you to the fourth in the series but you can catch up by using the links at the end of the post. Want even more, checkout, “Top Five FMLA Mistakes.”
The Office of the Special Counsel has put on line a helpful quiz to help representatives deepen their understanding of Prohibited Personnel Practices. We have found it helpful to raise these in grievances involving promotions when we also have an argument that the agency violated 5 CFR 300.103. It takes about an hour, but if you know little to nothing about them today, this quiz will be a big benefit for you.
Although it does not come up very much at all anymore, there are times when it can be helpful to dig into the legislative history of the CSRA. Unfortunately, unless you have a law library near-by or have purchased on-line access to some legal research service that is not going to be easy to do—unless you know about what FLRA gives us for free. It has posted the entire legislative history of the Act on its web site and made it word searchable.
According to “Government Executive” the Department of Defense went down in defeat before the power of IFPTE and AFGE when the department tried to increase the amount of contracting out on DOD. We recommend that article posted just before the holidays for its comments about what to expect from the next White House administration on contracting out federal employee work.
Not long ago we ran across an MSPB case filed by an FDIC manager challenging his demotion and reassignment for having a sexual relationship with a bargaining unit employee who reported to him. Although the supervisor made a big mistake and likely deserved the demotion as MSPB ultimately ruled, we felt bad for him because the Board identified him by name in a case that will be available on-line to the world for years and years to come. But our response was closer to outrage on behalf of the female employee he slept with because the Board also published her name along with the facts of their affair, their intimate e-mails, and other salacious details. So, both of these employees will have the intimate details on the world wide web forever for their parents, kids, grandkids, spouses, neighbors, co-workers, etc. to page through. Why? Because that is the way MSPB has always done it. Is there an alternative that would protect employee privacy, especially that of victims. Yes, the EEOC implemented it over a year ago. Continue reading
Not only did the new year arrive a few days ago, but also the next round of LM reports began showing up as well. Unions file these nationally and locally with the Dept. of Labor to open their financial operations to members—at least a little bit. Union members, and especially local officers, should never complain about knowing what the union is doing with their dues money or future if they have not looked over these annual reports. If you want to check out you own national or local click on over to the DOL search site for these reports. Select the union you are interested in and whether you are looking for a local or national’s report. You can also enter a local’s number and on the bottom of the page the fiscal year if you want to target the search more precisely. Here are some things to look for in these reports. Continue reading
It is one thing to have a great contract provision backing you up. In this case, the AFGE-DVA contract covering Pharmacy Technicians in Richmond, VA required temporary promotions for those who performed higher graded duties for 25 percent of the time for 10 or more days. That may be the best higher graded duty protection in any federal sector contract. But, you also need a savvy union to steer around the obstacles to enforcing contract rights through arbitration, and AFGE’s foresight did the trick in a very creative way when the employee asked for six years of back pay for the time he had been required to do the job of a person one grade higher than him. Continue reading
The agency indefinitely suspended an employee for losing his security clearance, and on appeal MSPB used the case to tweak it concept of due process protections in an adverse action. That makes it a case lots of LR/ER practitioners should know about. Continue reading