Posted on December 4, 2025 by AdminUN

MSPB WATERS DOWN THE KALKINES RIGHT

While the Commander-in-Chief is busy redecorating the oval office in a style that can only be described as neo-bordello, his bouncers at the MSPB have been chipping away at the Constitutional rights of federal employees. For longer than most of our readers have been alive the Supreme Court has held that a public employee “…cannot be discharged simply because he invokes his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in refusing to respond.”  This is called the Kalkines right after the name of the case it came from. The court spelled out a two-part test that public employees only “subject themselves to dismissal if they refuse to account for their performance of their public trust, after proper proceedings, which do not involve an attempt to coerce them to relinquish their constitutional rights.”   Nonetheless, the MSPB Trumpettes recently added a third element when they upheld the termination of an IRS supervisor (Michelle Shows) who refused to answer a question when being grilled by her supervisor because…   Continue reading →

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Posted on December 4, 2025 by AdminUN

WHAT THE $%#& AFGE?

The D.C Court of Appeals recently issued a decision of  minor significance to all us union advocates.  But it contained “alleged” details about a union leader’s behavior that are so outrageous that it causes me to wonder who is in charge at AFGE. Here is what the federal court wrote to describe what a union member said about her local. Continue reading →

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Posted on October 22, 2025 by AdminUN

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY PROTECTIONS FOR FEDS – RECENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

DOJ is busy trying to legally substantiate paying Trump $230 million for enduring the same process every other suspected and/or indicted citizen endures-but without being paid. But it somehow found a few minutes to address the right of federal employees to situational telework to practice their religion. Click here for a legal memo it issued confirming that feds do have the statutory right to this. It should help when some supervisor reacts from the gut and denies some union member’s request.

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Posted on October 20, 2025 by AdminUN

WHY HAVE UNIONS NOT TRIED THIS?

A budget shutdown puts a lot of pain on federal employees.  No one gets a check during the shutdown and some even must continue to go to work, incurring commuting costs and denying them a chance to pick up some temp work to cover basic costs. Because the problem largely comes from the Anti-Deficiency Act, unions should be doing everything they can to gut the provisions of that law permitting this situation. For example, Continue reading →

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Posted on October 20, 2025 by AdminUN

JOB REASSIGNMENTS CAN BE ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION

Back in 2024 the Supreme Court held that some job reassignments have enough of an adverse impact on employees that the employee can file a discrimination claim.  Since then, the courts have been trying to flesh out just which reassignments are and are not protected by anti-discrimination laws. The U.S Fourth Circuit Court  of Appeals is the latest court to chime in on this issue. The folks at the Ogletree Deakins law firm put together an advice memo for their clients that we thought you also might find helpful. Click here to access.   The case concerned a federal employee at the Social Security Administration and the issue of whether employee’s reassignment could be considered adverse even if it did not result in a “significant” change in her employment status. The loss of supervisory authority and duties, as well as the perceived demotion, were sufficient to potentially meet this standard.

Posted in EEO/Discrimination, Reassignments | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on October 8, 2025 by AdminUN

MENOPAUSAL DISCRIMINATION IS LEGAL, BUT…   

Virtually all the case law holds that discrimination against employees because they are in their menopausal period of life is not illegal.  (Yes, we know. That sounds insane given the hard connection between it and age as well as gender. But stay with us.) It is normally ILLEGAL to discriminate based on  someone suffering the effects of menopause. This becomes even more significant when you realize, as one association notes, statistics  “show that nearly 1 in 4 menopausal employees suffer from severe menopause-related symptoms that impact their ability to work. “ Continue reading →

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Posted on October 8, 2025 by AdminUN

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR UNION FREE SPEECH RIGHTS

Thankfully, the instances of union members being blackballed, beaten or even murdered for opposing the union’s leadership or its policies are few and very far in between today.  But that does not mean that we have seen the last of autocratic or despotic union leaders who do need to be criticized and called out.  And the primary way to do that is for members to vigorously exercise the special statutory rights union members have to free speech about union affairs. This post highlights the most important things to know about that right.  Continue reading →

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Posted on September 29, 2025 by AdminUN

FROM THEIR LIPS TO GOD’S EARS

Without triggering a theological inquisition about  whether God has ears or even more fundamental questions, I want to share with you the latest Federal Court of Appeals decision blocking Trump’s Executive Order to kill unions. Oh, that other judges and justices read and adopt it. Until then, the reasoning of the court provides hope for those of us  dealing with “government by revenge.” You can read the full decision by clicking here, but below are the highlights. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 28, 2025 by AdminUN

OUR COMPLIMENTS TO NTEU FOR…

Its newsletter to members-only updating them on all the court cases it and other unions have filed against the various Trump efforts to destroy unions,  fire federal employees, and turn the Executive Branch into a threatening club to build the Trump family’s personal wealth. NTEU updates its members a couple of times a month on almost every  lawsuit that could have an impact on their lives. And there are many. (The most recent NTEU Legal update reported on 16 cases filed by it, AFGE, NAAE, AFSA, POPA, FEA and the AFL-CIO.)  For example, depending on how these cases play out those feds fired as probationers could be reinstated with gobs of back pay and benefits; the same goes for those RIF’d or whose work or agency was shutdown.  In addition, these cases have the potential to give those union officials who have had to do union work on their own time, due to Trump’s cancellation of their negotiated official time, back pay as well for those extra hours. Similarly, any employee who could have filed a grievance had Trump not terminated their negotiated right to grieve should be able to file it no matter how far beyond the negotiated filing deadline.  FEDSMILL is of the opinion that one of the great benefits of unions is the information they can or potentially can give their members about their job site and career. These cases and similar fed employee developments are almost never covered in the general media. When people ask, “What has my union done for me lately?” unions that can point to a constant flow of information to members only have a ready answer to that.

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Posted on September 24, 2025 by AdminUN

DON’T BE A SUCKER FOR THIS AWARDS PROGRAM

The White House revels in taking some federal program that was around long before its current occupant arrived and declaring it new, ingenious, and the best ever—or words to that effect. A good example is a new Treasury Department press release about how feds are now eligible for awards up to $10,000 if they identify contractor abuse that results in the contract being cancelled or scaled back. That is not new; it has been the law for a while. But another part of the law will give a fed up to 30% of the savings from identifying a contractor engaging in fraud or similar actions. We wrote about this back in 2012 in a post entitled, “The Employee As Bounty Hunter .” That can put millions in a fed’s pocket. For example, in 2024, before the new White House occupants arrived, the government passed out $400 million to feds and others who blew the whistle through the process known as a “qui tam” lawsuit under the Federal  Claims Act.  Here is how to do it.   Continue reading →

Posted in Awards, Whistleblowing | Tagged | Leave a comment