Included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021, were provisions allowing many federal employees access to up to 600 hours paid emergency leave for coronavirus-related reasons. The emergency leave is similar to the former emergency paid sick leave provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response ActRead More
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Actions Taken to Repair Federal Labor-Management Relations in President Biden’s First Week in Office
It has been less than a week since President Joe Biden took the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, but the new administration has wasted no time in making efforts to repair damaged labor-management relations in the federal workforce. On Day 1, President Biden issued an “Executive Order on Advancing RacialRead More
Hopes and Expectations for the Biden Administration
It has been a rough four years for the rights of federal employees. From a gutted Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), to a Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) that has seemingly gone rogue, to a series of Executive Orders signed by President Trump weakening employee and Union rights, some of us who practice in federalRead More
Waiting in Limbo Due to a Pending Security Clearance Adjudication?
When an employee’s security clearance eligibility comes into question, the length of time it takes to adjudicate that employee’s security clearance eligibility can feel painstakingly long. For civil service employees employed by the Department of Defense (DoD), adjudications of security clearances are performed by a central DoD Agency called the Department of Defense Consolidated AdjudicationRead More
OPM Press Release “FY2016 Official Time Report Highlighting Taxpayer Funded Union Time”
I recently read a Press Release from the Office of Communications, Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The release was entitled “FY2016 Official Time Report Highlighting Taxpayer Funded Union Time Released by the U. S. Office of Personnel Management.” I was immediately struck by the inherent bias of the release which referred to “official union time”Read More
Should All VA Employees Blow the Whistle Now?
On June 23, 2017, the President signed into law the “Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act.” The title has a nice ring to it, but it is somewhat misleading. For most rank and file VA employees, the most significant effect of this law is a drastic reduction in their notice and appealRead More