Posts tagged USDA
How a Biden federal employee got paid for ‘teleworking’ while actually spending four DAYS in jail on a DUI charge
August 15, 2024 // Vargas was also arrested on three other occasions, including for multiple DUIs, between 2020 and 2022. During that time, she also served as the former president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3138. Read More EXCLUSIVE Social Security whistleblower reveals 'weeks to months' response time for 'simple requests' due to telework abuse article image In April 2023, Vargas allegedly 'confessed' to an AFGE staff member that she misappropriated $17,000. However, after a review, the federation found that the amount was actually closer to $20,500. In August 2023, she was 'suspended' from all AFGE affiliated offices.
Billionaire California growers battle farmworker union over biggest victory under new law
March 17, 2024 // Three workers, who now want their vote revoked, say they merely attended meetings and signed cards for the $600 relief payments and never wanted to join a union. They described feeling “tricked” and “lied to” by UFW organizers, while also pointing to the 3% dues that would be required by joining. They also struggled to recall specifics of when they met up with UFW organizers and if the cards they signed contained wording to make UFW their union bargaining representative.
NSF announces return-to-office changes before finishing negotiations, drawing union ire
July 18, 2023 // Starting in October, all telework-eligible NSF employees and Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) employees stationed at agency headquarters will have to work in the office at least four days per two-week pay period, NSF leaders said in an all-staff email, obtained by Federal News Network. The changes do not apply to employees eligible for remote work or those with an approved remote work agreement. “We want to strengthen the NSF culture by increasing our time in person, while meeting our business needs and maintaining workplace flexibility,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan and Chief Operating Officer Karen Marrongelle said in the email.
Federal unions have a way to locate unrepresented employees, OPM says
August 22, 2022 // The Office of Personnel Management has offered some extra help to federal unions looking to add eligible employees to their membership rosters. Federal unions have tools available in FedScope, OPM’s online federal employee database, to identify which agencies have the largest amounts of unrepresented workers, said Tim Curry, OPM’s deputy associate director for accountability and workforce relations, in an email obtained by Federal News Network. On the other hand, the departments of Education, Energy, Labor, State and Treasury, as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, were among the agencies with the lowest numbers of unrepresented workers. The most recent data available in FedScope is from March 2022. NFFE National President Randy Erwin,
U.S. agency heads can’t review extended bargaining agreements – court
August 16, 2022 // A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday struck down a federal labor board's Trump-era guidance that made it easier for federal agencies to make changes to union contracts that are extended beyond their expiration dates while a new agreement is being negotiated. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with three major federal-worker unions that challenged the Federal Labor Relations Authority's 2020 guidance, which said agency heads can review and alter bargaining agreements that are subject to "continuance clauses." Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, Circuit Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao, National Treasury Employees Union v. FLRA, U.S. Court of Appeals, Kathryn Bailey of the National Treasury Employees Union, Deputy Solicitor Rebecca Osborne, Joseph Busa of the U.S. Department of Justice,