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January 2006
Federal Judge Denounces SSA in Disability Discrimination Case

In early January, U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson denied
SSA's request that he dismiss a handicap discrimination case brought by
the union on behalf of a union member who had been forced to quit by
management's failure to accommodate her disability.

In the course of his decision, Judge Nickerson said that SSA:

*    "raises a variety of arguments that either misstate the substantive
law [or] misrepresent jurisdictional facts";

*    "raises a misguided jurisdictional argument based on a flawed reading
of a decision . . . ";

*    "Some [of SSA's arguments] are based on mischaracterizations of the
evidence";

*    "Perhaps the most flagrant of Defendant's misrepresentations of the
evidence is Defendant's characterization of the nature of the
accommodation sought by Plaintiff."

The union  attorneys believe that the judge's recognition that SSA
management cannot be trusted bodes well for the case as a whole, which
will come to trial later this year.

Mar, 2004
Settlement - SUSPENSION REDUCED

Teleservice Center Representative Justine Conway was instrumental in reducing a 5-day suspension for misuse of time to one day over a weekend. The SSA grievant received backpay plus interest and the suspension would not be included in her OPF or 7B file.
Settlement

Feb, 2004
Settlement - TERMINATION REVOKED

Vice President Donald Bricknell in Stump Neck, Maryland represented an employee who was being terminated during his probationary period. After Mr. Bricknell met with management, the agency agreed to transfer the employee to another department and was given the opportunity to complete his probationary period.

Feb, 2004
Settlement - SUSPENSION REDUCED

SSA Vice President Woody Kocher aided Union staff attorney in reducing a 10-day suspension to 8 1/2 days. The grievant received 1 1/2 days backpay and the suspension was expunged from his records.

Feb, 2004
Settlement - NON-SELECTION

An SSA employee was granted the right to use a priority consideration after not being selected for a posting.

Jan, 2004
Arbitration - SUSPENSION OVERTURNED

AFGE Local 1923 with the assistance of Local 1923's Vice President, Phillip Holley, prevailed in the case of a suspension for an employee charged with accessing his daughter's social security records. The Arbitrator found that the employee did not fully appreciate the nature of his acts and was therefore not liable to be punished for the access. The employee will be made whole, with backpay and interest. The Agency also has to pay reasonable attorney fees to the Union's Legal Representation Fund.

Jan, 2004
Settlement - HIGHER GRADED DUTY CASE

Vice President Donald Bricknell was successful in representing a DoD Stump Neck Naval Service Warfare employee who was detailed from a GS-12 position and was assigned the duties of a supervisory GS-13 position without being compensated. Mr. Bricknell negotiated with management to discontinue his detail and to compensate him in the amount of $1,800 for performing higher graded duties.

Jan, 2004
Settlement - REMOVAL RESCINDED

Local 1923 was successful is getting management to rescind on a removal case. The grievant also received a clean SF-50 record , accepted a voluntary retirement and received $90,000 in backpay. The agency also agreed to pay reasonable attorney fees to the Union's Legal Representational Fund.

Jan, 2004
EEO - SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE

A DoD employee charged the Agency with sexual harassment. The EEO judge agreed and the Grievant was awarded $15,000 and promoted to the next GS-level. In addition, the Grievant was transferred out of her unit and 80 hours of leave was reinstated. The supervisor was relocated to another department.

Jan, 2004
Settlement - MERIT PROMOTION

An SSA employee filed charges because she was denied a promotion. As part of the settlement, the Grievant agreed to retire and the Agency paid her $15,000 and retroactively promoted her for the previous three years. The Grievant also had 224 hours of advance sick leave cancelled.

Jan, 2004
Settlement - EMPLOYEE REINSTATED

VA Representative Monica Hagen fought an unjust removal of an employee. The union prevailed and the employee was reinstated.