August 17, 2010

AFGE SAYS STORE ASSOCIATES POSITIONS SHOULD BE PROMOTED

As a result of bargaining with DECA over WoF implementation, the council made DECA aware that employees who were changed to Store Associate positions were not being promoted upon completion of the required training. C-172 confirmed with the agency that the Store Associate positions were in fact career ladder positions and that employees should be non-competitively promoted upon completion of training if a successful level of performance was obtained. As a result, over 300 promotions are pending at DECA Headquarters. This notice is to advise locals that if you are aware of any Store Associates who have not been promoted upon completion of training, please have them contact their local DECA steward or local. This information should then be passed along to C-172 so that we can provide the employee’s name to the agency.

ARBITRATOR FINDS AGENCY VIOLATED D.C. LAW

AFGE won reinstatement and full back pay for a D.C. paramedic wrongfully removed from her position. The Agency claimed it removed the paramedic because she failed psychological examinations, but actually it did so in retaliation for her request for workers’ compensation for a serious workplace injury. Because the Agency obtained the results of the psychological examination approximately a year before removing her, the Arbitrator found that the Agency violated a D.C. law that requires the Fire and Emergency Services Department to take adverse action within 90 days of its knowledge of the reason for the adverse action. The Agency failed to do so and instead forced the Grievant to remain in limbo for a year, in violation of D.C. law.

AFGE AWARDED $27,000 IN ATTORNEY FEES

In a precedent-setting case, an Arbitrator ordered the D.C. Housing Authority to pay AFGE over $27,000 in attorney fees due to the unlawful removal of a single mother of four. This is the first-ever award of attorney fees pursuant to the Federal Backpay Act against the D.C. Housing Authority. The Arbitrator held that the statute that created the Housing Authority specified that “other laws applicable to the District of Columbia shall apply to this independent Agency,” and as the Federal Backpay Act is an “other law that is applicable to the District of Columbia,” attorney fees were awardable.

ANOTHER WIN FOR AFGE LEGAL TEAM

AFGE Local 1616 was successful in having the 2-day suspension of a Union Steward completely overturned. The Arbitrator found that the Agency did not have just cause to discipline the employee for excessive use of a government computer for personal reasons and ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to rescind the 2-day suspension. The Arbitrator also ordered the Agency to reassess the grievant’s most recent performance appraisal, which had been badly affected by the disciplinary action, consistent with the Award. AFGE attorney Mike Pazder has filed an application for attorney fees following the award of back pay.

BACKPAY AWARDED FOR ALL VIOLATED OVERTIME

In a recent arbitration decision involving AFGE Local 1242, the Arbitrator found that the Agency had violated the overtime requirements in the Master Agreement on multiple occasions since January 2008 and awarded back pay for each overtime violation. The Arbitrator ordered the Agency to work with the Union to resolve the exact amounts owed to each affected employee and ordered the Agency to train three Union officials on how to read and understand the Agency's overtime roster program to help them monitor those records in the future.

Rep Wing - July 2010

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