A former official of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) says that a recent article on the FedSmith site does not recognize the reasons the FLRA is critical to effective labor relations in the federal government and that the suggestions in that article would be an inadequate substitute for the role played by the agency in the federal labor relations program.
Senior federal officials sometimes have a reputation or image for being far removed from the average American. This HHS official took a different approach.
The author has written extensively on FedSmith about the “ins and outs” of bargaining on the impact and implementation(I and I) of agency management decisions. I and I bargaining occurs with great frequency in the Federal sector and generally results in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the agency and the union. This article covers critical points the agency should consider in putting together an MOU.
The Internal Revenue Service is raising the mileage reimbursement rate because of the increasing cost of filling up a car with gas. How will this decision impact federal employees?
Self-appraisals are unreliable but many federal employees are required to do them anyway. It’s a system only an egomaniac or sycophant can appreciate. So, how well did you do last year?
The Army had “legitimate management considerations” for reassigning an engineer to Ft. Riley, Kansas. An appropriate penalty for refusing to move is removal and, in this case, the employee’s refusal to move was upheld by the MSPB and a federal court.
A bill approving four weeks of paid parental leave (with more available with OPM approval) has been passed by the House. Is this expansion of federal employee benefits a good idea or just election year pandering by politicians? Vote in this survey and send in your opinion.
Everyone has noticed that prices are going up. Inflation may have an impact on your paycheck next year. The annual increase in retirement checks will go up next January, probably at least 4.5%. Current federal employees may be looking at an average increase of 3.9%–but locality pay will make a big difference in the actual check for current employees.
The author responds to an article published last week in FedSmith calling for an end to the FLRA and calling for some drastic changes in Federal labor relations. This author reaches a different conclusion than that of the original article.
A “last chance” agreement usually means that an employee will be fired if there is a similar problem in the future. When this Postal Service employee argued removal was inappropriate because of her long service record, the last chance agreement still carried the day and the employee remains a former federal employee.
