Contribute to AFGE Members through FEEAAFGE members are on the ground helping survivors of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. AFGE partnered with the Federal Employees Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) to manage disaster relief efforts and assist government employees as they recover. The fund is made up of donations by AFGE affiliates which are earmarked exclusively for AFGE members in need of disaster assistance.
Thousands of people use Washington, D.C.’s historic Union Station every day, but few notice an important statue of a leading civil and labor rights figure located in the main train concourse outside of the Starbucks. That statue belongs to A. Philip Randolph, one of the most visible faces in the long national struggle for civil rights.
Despite his significant contributions to the civil rights and labor movement, younger people may not even know him. They, however, owe what they might have taken for granted to this man because he led a successful campaign against racial discrimination in the workplace. After Randolph and his fellow civil rights activists threatened to hold a March on Washington in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 prohibiting racial discrimination in the national defense industry and government. It was the first federal action to prohibit employment discrimination in the United States.
Randolph continued to play a leading role in our nation’s civil rights and labor movement until his death in 1979. He remains an inspiration for us all with the principles he spoke of that day: empowering the powerless, challenging authority, and never faltering in the hardest of times; for it is the hardest of times that forge the greatest of people. Phillip Randolph would have turned 129 on April 15, 2018.
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AFGE invites you to participate in a National Union meeting Tuesday, April 10 at 8 p.m. ET OR 10 p.m. ET.
NOTE: (7:00 pm or 9:00 pm Central Time)
ALL government workers — whether they’re an AFGE member or not — are welcome to join the call.
Make sure to join us for an all-union telephone town hall. All government workers — whether they’re an AFGE member or not — are welcome to join the call.
This meeting will be held on the second Tuesday of each month. It’s your chance to hear the latest news on major issues facing AFGE members and to ask your questions live. Please make sure you are not on official time or duty time, not on government property, and on your personal phone for this call.
In solidarity,
AFGE
P.S. If you have any questions for the teletown hall, email townhall@afge.org or simply reply to this email.
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DID YOU KNOW?
Here is some contract guidance for Sick Leave Restrictions. The most unknown fact is that it is the gift that keeps on giving for two (2) years.
A LEAVE PATTERN is the ONLY reason you should be on SICK Leave restriction, example, calling in every Monday for three months straight.
Article 31, section 4.B.
Where the Agency has reason to believe that an employee is abusing the use of sick leave, the Agency may inquire further into the matter. If there is evidence that an employee’s leave pattern may indicate that an abuse of sick leave exists, the employee shall first be advised by an interview, which shall be recorded in the SF-7B file, of the reasons a medical certificate may be required for each subsequent absence or sick leave. The use of sick leave for scheduled medical appointments caused by recurring and previously documented medical conditions will not be considered a leave pattern that indicates an abuse of sick leave.
If the employee’s leave pattern continues, the employee will be advised in writing as to whether an acceptable medical certificate may be required for each subsequent absence for which sick leave is requested.
The sick leave usage of all employees under sick leave restriction will be reviewed at least every four (4) months and a written decision to continue or lift the restrictions made. If the review shows significant improvement, the supervisor will lift the restriction.
Advance SICK leave criteria.
If you are on restriction “NO advance sick leave”
Article 31, Section 4.D.
Sick leave will be advanced when the following required conditions have been satisfied:
1. The employee is serving under a career or career-conditional appointment.
2. The employee has a minimum of 1 year’s Federal civilian service.
3. All available accumulated sick leave to his/her credit has been exhausted.
4. There is no expectation that the employee is contemplating separation by retirement or resignation.
5. A medical certificate substantiates that a serious illness or injury exists, and that the employee will be capable of subsequently returning to work and fulfilling the full scope of his/her job.
6. There is no expectation that the employee will not remain employed after his/her return to duty long enough to repay the advance of sick leave.
7. The employee does not have a current letter of warning or disciplinary action properly proposed or effected for abuse of sick leave.
Restrictions on Advance Annual are for TWO (2) years. If you are on restriction no advance annual even if you are off restriction
Article 31, Section 2C.
1. Advanced annual leave is leave time requested on an SSA-71 or equivalent, approved by the delegated authority and taken but not yet earned by the employee.
2. An employee may be advanced the lesser of 80 hours or the amount of annual leave an employee would accrue during the remainder of the leave year (i.e., maximum of 80 hours in the leave year).
This provision does not apply to employees who are currently on a leave restriction or who have been disciplined for leave related offenses in the past two years.
Sick leave restriction is not because of your leave balance. Your leave balance should not be a factor, example they should say you use it as soon as you earn it.
Article 31, Section 6. D.
Section 6. Leave Balances
A. Employees will not be denied leave usage solely because of their leave balances.
B. Employees will not be denied overtime or credit hours solely because of their leave balances.
C. Employees will not be adversely affected in any employment decision solely because of their leave balances.
D. Employees will not be placed on sick leave restriction solely because of their leave balances.
LWOP is your right under limited situations. Know when you are ENTITLED to use LWOP.
Article 31, Section 7 E.
E. Employees have a right to LWOP consistent with government wide rules and regulations:
* When a disabled veteran requests LWOP for medical treatment,
*When requested by a reservist or National Guard member for military duties in accordance with appropriate military orders. Employees may request such leave after their military leave has been exhausted (38 USC Section 4316(d)),
* When requested by an employee who has suffered an incapacitating job-related injury or illness and is waiting adjudication of a claim for employee compensation by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program, or
*When an employee makes a request under the Family and Medical Leave Act, or the Expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act and meets the criteria for that program.
This benefit is only available to members of AFGE. If you are a member of AFGE, please login to the Members Only section. If you are not a member, but would like to find out how to become one, please visit the Join AFGE section.
Receive free lawyer consultation and review and no enrollment forms or fees are required. AFGE members are automatically enrolled and are entitled to:
Unique and Union-Backed
No other online legal service provides exactly this type of service. We also encourage union members (and attorneys interested in participating) to refer us to recommended lawyers by completing a “Recommend a Lawyer Form.”
VOTING LEAVE REMINDERS
by AFGE Local 1395
The AFGE/SSA National Agreement, Article 31, section 3D, authorizes the use of Administrative Leave to VOTE.
Don’t forget to exercise your rights on Election Day.
“The Employer will excuse employees for a reasonable time, when practicable to do so without seriously interfering with operations, to vote or register in any election or referendum on a civic matter in his/her community.
An employee will be excused from duty so as to permit him/her to report for work 3 hours after the polls open or to leave work 3 hours before the polls close, whichever results in the lesser amount of time off. Under unusual circumstances, an employee can be excused up to the full day.
The Employer will notify employees of this right at the beginning of each fiscal year and shall encourage employees to avail themselves of the right to register and vote.”
Since 1986, FEEA has offered scholarships to more than 10,000 individuals, including providing nearly 200 scholarships to the children of federal civilian employees who died or were severely injured in the line of duty during the terrorist attacks on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the Pentagon on 9-11, and the US Embassies and Consulates in Kenya, Tanzania, and Libya.
Collectively, our scholarship program to date totals over $14 million. FEEA champions the pursuit of higher education and each year supports approximately 300 students with merit-based scholarships.
The 2018 application deadline is March 21, 2018 at 11:59pm EDT.
LINK https://feea.org/our-programs/scholarships/
When you join the union, you have access to these AFGE benefits. These benefits are backed by the collective strength of over 10 million members of AFL-CIO unions. By using one or two of the programs, many members save as much as their annual dues.
