The representation of federal employees in discipline and adverse actions is complicated. In our experience, most local labor unions are not technically prepared to provide such representation to safeguard an employee’s career and future financial security.
Tag: AFGE
Administrative Leave & Authorized Absence
The terms Administrative Leave and Authorized Absence are essentially synonymous (we will use the term Administrative Leave for the purposes of this post). Further, we distinguish that for the purpose of this article, we are not addressing such leave used by union representatives for official time related to union activities.
‘Chaos’ as VA Implements Executive Order Limiting Union Official Time
Our organization has already noticed a significant increase in the number of calls from employees across all federal agencies seeking assistance.
Democratic Senators Demand OPM Reverse Course on Proposed Retirement Cuts
Lawmakers offer to work with the administration on civil service reform if OPM Director Jeff Pon abandons push for “draconian” measures.
Massive Federal Pay & Benefit Cuts Not Far Off
Federal employee pay and benefits have been a target of Republicans for a long time and to be fair, to a much lesser degree, even Democrats (remember the Obama federal pay freeze)
FAQ: Union Membership and Representation
It is important to note that the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) will first examine whether the union has exclusive representational authority over the matter in dispute.
When Unions Go Bad
Somewhat regularly, we field calls from union members in the federal sector (and even union officials) regarding issues with union representation or leadership. The issues may involve claims of failure to provide union representation (including adequate representation are most common), the…
Can It Hurt To Have A Union Representative?
There is a prevailing theory that it is usually better to have union representation, than not have union representation, given such need. While we are certainly proponents of labor organizations and their representational roles, particularly since we have been on…
AFGE Sues OPM Over Data Breach
Breaking News: The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) announced yesterday, June 29, 2015, that it filed a class action lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) concerning the recent massive data breaches of federal employee, retiree, and contractor…
GOP Proposing Wide-Scale Pension Cuts
This legislation is being proposed on top of all previous legislation adversely affecting federal employees. By some estimations, employees could lose over 12-15% of their annual pay if all Republican legislation is enacted as written.
Excused Absences for Inclement Weather
With the recent outbreak of severe weather, we received many inquiries from federal employees concerning Excused Absence (also called “Authorized Absence” and even “Administrative Leave” by some agencies). (Note, Excused Absence should not be confused with granting of “liberal leave”…
Union Data Reports
Finding and Retrieving Information on Your Union One of the most common questions we get from federal employees in a bargaining unit is, “how do I find out how much my union spends?” In that regard, we offer this post.…