THE
TECHNICIAN Rally Edition 2021 | Keep the Faith
Issue #3 , Vol. 81
National Training Schedule Tom Mahoney
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Duty • Dignity • Dedication
2022 NATIONAL RALLY DETAILS
Inside Story Cover Story
From Toms Desk Tom Mahoney
NOTE FROM YOUR NATIONAL OFFICE: It has been a quick year and the Rally will be here soon. This edition of The Technician will give you some insight of what to expect and tips on how to prepare. In the first half of 2021 COVID slowed travel and many chapters delayed training and negotiations. However, travel is now in full swing, and the Field Reps have been busy conducting chapter training and on site with the chapters in contract negotiations. With the increased workload coupled with travel the Reps are burning the candle at both ends. I appreciate all that the Field Reps have done to keep the pace. Thanks. I am sad to report the accidental death of 3 member’s last quarter. Our thoughts and prayers to all the families and the members co-workers during this difficult time. Please take a minute and update your beneficiaries not only on the ACT Accidental Death and Dismemberment policy but on all your insurance policies. I want to thank the Washington Rainer Chapter for the invite to attend the live streaming of a chapter meeting. I enjoyed the interaction and would suggest that more chapters start using the different IT platforms for virtual meetings. The convenience of attending from anywhere saves so much of your valuable time. See you at the Rally and KTF.
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NATIONAL OFFICERS
ACT NATIONAL FIELD REPRESENTATIVES
Tom Mahoney National President tmahoney@actnat.com / 743-843-2151
Steve Olguin Midwest Region solguin@actnat.com / 703-843-2156
Robert Niemer Executive Vice President rniemeract@gmail.com / 608-843-0317
Julio Romero Western Region jromero@actnat.com / 703-843-2157
John Sappington Northwest VP herchammer@gmail.com / 816-284-1462
Travis Perry Northeast Region tperry@actnat.com / 703-843-2153
Felicia Neale Southeast VP vneale1@yahoo.com / 340-513-7539
Chris Searcy Southeast Region csearcy@actnat.com / 571-427-2076
Gene Fuehrer Northeast VP gfuehrer@actnat.com / 402-416-4520
Lee Hendrick Central Region lhendrick@actnat.com / 743-843-2159
Rick Wrenn Southwest VP richardww427@gmail.com / 267-980-1534 Tim Keesecker Treasurer timkeesecker@actnat.com / 402-429-4436
membership.info@actnat.com Phone: 703-494-4845 Fax: 703 494-0961 www.ACTnat.com www.chooseACT.com twitter.com/ACTNAT
Steve Fisher Secretary sfisher@actnat.com / 703-899-7890
Registration fee for 2022 is $75. This year Delegates will have the opportunity to pay the $75 fee online either as an individual or group. Online registration helps us track the number of attendees. The real time numbers will be used to determine number of handouts, name tags, meeting day snacks, and the provided Lunch (buffet style Wednesday and Saturday). 03 05
Delegates you can pay by either credit card, debit card, or check processing. The website is https://www.regpack.com/reg/templates/build/?g_id=100908799 On the first page, the Organizer name is where the attendee puts their information in, because they should be able to add multiple attendees later in the process.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 5 6 8 10 11 12 14
From Tom’s Desk Tom Mahoney Pre-Planning Tom Mahoney Strategy ACT Training Schedule ACT Accomodations Embassy Suites Persuading NGB Dan Schember Favorable Settlement Dan Schember The Ugly Truth Lee Hedrick
08 : STORY
National Training Schedule Tom Mahoney
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Terry Garnett Sighting
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Pre-planning Hill Visit
Inside Story
Pre-planning Hill Visit Tom Mahoney ACT National President
Planning your visit. Planning starts with a request for Official Time (earlier the better), reserve transportation now both airline seats and rental cars may be at a premium, let your Field Rep know how many are attending and reserve your rooms early. We want to make a strong showing on the hill. Make as many appointments as practical. However, we need to focus first on the Armed Services Committee members. Regardless of who you visit at a minimum here are some simple steps to follow. (1) Do not use agency email or phone to set up appointments or be on duty time to when communicating with your congressional membership. (2) If you have a spokesperson selected make the appointment in the spokespersons name. Let the scheduler know the size of your party. More than 4 from your team in a meeting room can be difficult to accommodate. (3) It looks very professional to have a business card. Please order at least one business card for someone among the team or better yet one for each team member. Business cards are a great recruiting tool at home also. (4) Now is the time to start reading our agenda. Remember there is a session on our agenda at the training meeting to help find tune your presentation.
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Inside Story
November XXX 2022
TO: XXXXXXX, Labor Relations Specialist, From: President, Chapter XXX Subject: Request for official time IAW 5 U.S.C. § 7131 and CBA Article XX Section XX
I am requesting official time for the following Labor Organization Representatives. The official time will allow travel to Washington D.C. for attendance at ACT National sponsored training and congressional meetings. The official time is for February 8 thru 11, 2022. The following official time is for:
1. Name, Chapter Position i.e, Pres, Treas, Steward, supervisor 2. Name, Chapter Position i.e, Pres, Treas, Steward supervisor 3. Name, Chapter Position i.e, Pres, Treas, Stewards supervisor 4. etc., etc.,
Please contact me with any questions.
Name Title Phone # Email address.
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Inside Story Our strategy to amend the current language in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) versus introducing new bills has been beneficial. The following individuals sit on the committee that has the most impact on our legislation. Please identify those committee members that represent your State and make an appointment. HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS Anthony Brown MD Joe Courtney CT Jared Golden ME Kaiali’i Kahele HI James R. Langevin RI Seth Moulton MA Mikie Sherrill NJ Marilyn Strickland WA
Salud Carbajal CA Veronica Escobar TX Steven Horsford NV William Keating MA Rick Larsen WA Stephanie Murphy FL Elissa Slotkin MI Marc Veasey TX
Jason Crow CO Ruben Gallego AZ Chrissy Houlahan PA Ro Khanna CA Elaine Luria VA Donald Norcross NJ Adam Smith WA Filemon Vela TX
Jim Cooper TN John Garamendi CA Sara Jacobs CA Andy Kim CA Joseph Morelle NY Jimmy Panetta CA Jackie Speier CA
SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE MAJORITY Jack Reed, D-RI Tim Kaine, D-VA Angus King Jr., I-ME Gary Peters, D-MI Kirsten E. Gillibrand D-NY
Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH Richard Blumenthal, D-CT Elizabeth Warren, D-MA Jacky Rosen, D-NV
Mazie Hirono, D-HI Tammy Duckworth, D-Il Joe Manchin III, D-WV Mark E. Kelly, D-AZ
Roger Wicker, R-MS Mike Rounds, R-SD Dan Sullivan, R-AK Marsha Blackburn, R-TN
Deb Fischer, R-NE Joni Ernst, R-IA Rick Scott, R-FL Josh Hawley, R-SC
MINORITY James M. Inhofe, R-OK Tom Cotton, R-AR Thom Tillis, R-NC Kevin Cramer, R-ND Tommy Tuberville, R-AL
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Cover Story
2022 ACT NATIONAL TRAINING SCHEDULE Wednesday February 9, 2022 8:00 AM ALL VIRGINIA BALL ROOM (ATRIUM LEVEL) 9:00 AM Group 1 VIRGINA BALLROOM Group 2 MASON ROOM A (SECOND LEVEL) Group 3 MASON ROOM B (SECOND LEVEL)
Review Legislative Packet Preparing a Grievance MSPB, EEO Should you file a ULP?
10:00 AM Group 1 MASON ROOM B Group 2 VIRGINA BALLROOM Group 3 MASON ROOM A
MSPB, EEO Should you file a ULP? Review Legislative Packet Preparing a Grievance
11:00 AM Group 1 MASON ROOM A (SECOND LEVEL) Group 2 MASON ROOM B (SECOND LEVEL) Group 3 VIRGINA BALLROOM
Preparing a Grievance MSPB, EEO Should you file a ULP? Review Legislative Packet
12:00 PM ALL ATRIUM LUNCH BUFFETT
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Cover Story
1:15 PM ATRIUM STAIRCASE REGIONS’ PHOTO SHOOT 1:30 PM Group 1 VIRGINA BALLROOM DOL/IRS Group 2 MASON ROOM A (SECOND LEVEL) Group 3 MASON ROOM B (SECOND LEVEL)
DOL Overview Responding to Douglas Factors Why a 7114(b) request for information
2:30 PM Group 1 MASON ROOM B (SECOND LEVEL) Group 2 VIRGINA BALLROOM Group 3 MASON ROOM A (SECOND LEVEL)
Why a 7114(b) request for information DOL Overview Responding to Douglas Factors
3:30 PM Group 1 MASON ROOM A (SECOND LEVEL) Group 2 MASON ROOM B (SECOND LEVEL) Group 3 VIRGINA BALLROOM
Responding to Douglas Factors Why a 7114(b) request for information DOL Overview
4:45 PM ALL ATTENDIES VIRGINIA BALL ROOM (ATRIUM LEVEL)
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Inside Story
ACCOMODATIONS
The Embassy Suites Just steps away from the King St - Old Town Metro stop is ready for you. Guests may either: • Contact our reservations center at (800) 362-2779 and reference your group code, AC2; or • Book online via your group’s personalized webpage: https://book.passkey.com/event/50217557/owner/1731/home.
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Inside Story
ACT Persuades NGB to Drop Requirement That State Guards Seek to Exclude Removals from Negotiated Grievance Procedures
ACT General Counsel
By: Dan Schember
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The National Guard Bureau’s July 2021 draft of its proposed adverse action Instruction—CNGBI 1400.25, Vol. 752— included a requirement that State Guards “endeavor to exclude from the application of any grievance procedures negotiated under [the collective bargaining law], any dispute concerning decisions to remove any employee from Federal service for misconduct or unacceptable performance.” By this provision, NGB sought to perpetuate a similar requirement of Trump Executive Order 13839, which Biden had repealed.
When removals are excluded from grievance procedure coverage, the Merit Systems Protection Board becomes the only neutral third party that can hear removal appeals. Trump had combined his Order—the title of which said it was “Consistent with Merit System Principles”— with failure to appoint MSPB members, so that the Board lacked a quorum to decide cases. On August 16, 2021, ACT— exercising its 5 U.S.C. § 7113 national consultation rights—recommended that NGB drop the Trumpinspired requirement that State Guards always seek to exclude removals from grievance procedure
coverage. In support of its recommendation, ACT cited a Federal Service Impasses Panel decision— SSA and AFGE, 2019 FSIP 019 (May 29, 2019)—that had rejected the exclusion on the ground that the agency had not met its heavy burden to “establish convincingly” that the exclusion is warranted in the “particular setting” of the agency. ACT said, “National Guards cannot satisfy this burden; and the Instruction should not command all of them to try fruitlessly, over and over again.” Two days later, on August 18, NGB adopted ACT’s recommendation.
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Inside Story
Army Chapter Obtains Favorable Settlement of Black Friday Admin Leave Grievance
Dan Schember ACT General Counsel
In a memorandum dated November 9, 2020, The Adjutant General authorized Guard commanders to grant AGRs a one-day pass for the day after Thanksgiving—Black Friday—and authorized four hours of administrative leave on that day for technicians and Title 5 employees. Later though, the AG said they had “received an opinion from” the National Guard Bureau—never provided to the union—“that questioned the legality of [the] authorization” as to the employees, but not the military members. Based on the NGB opinion, the AG rescinded the four hours of administrative leave. The rescission, however, was not communicated to all supervisors before some employees had taken the leave. Supervisors later directed these employees to substitute annual leave or LWOP for the admin leave they had taken. The ACT Army Chapter grieved this action. The grievance argued that it was arbitrary and capricious to require the employees who took the admin leave to substitute, after the fact, personal leave or LWOP. The grievance pointed out that the administrative
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leave statute, 5 U.S.C. § 6329a, does not restrict the circumstances in which admin leave can be granted; instead, the law merely limits this leave to ten days per year. Further, the NGB regulation, CNGBI 1400.25, Vol. 630, includes no express preclusion of Black Friday admin leave. Instead, it states, “The authority to grant administrative leave to employees is within the administrative discretion of the AG when a determination to support an activity would benefit the NG.” The day off given to the AGRs, the grievance said, was an activity that the admin leave supported, and this leave benefited the Guard by promoting employee morale.
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Inside Story
The grievance argued that an undisclosed opinion by NGB saying the grant of Black Friday admin leave was legally “questionable” was not a proper basis for after-the-fact rescission of the leave and that, instead, the rescission was arbitrary and capricious because the leave was not outside any expressly stated statutory or regulatory limitation of the Adjutant General’s discretion and the relevant and most important equitable factor was that employees had relied on the grant of the leave. The grievance also pointed out that, under 10 U.S.C. § 10508(b)(3), the authority to decide the grievance and to “implement . . . any final . . . decision” resided exclusively with the AG of the State, not NGB, because the Guard was “the sole . . . respondent” in “any administrative complaint, grievance, claim or action” concerning employment matters. The AG settled the grievance by granting the affected employees four periods of 59 minutes of excused absence, which they could take in conjunction with annual or sick leave or compensatory time, provided the periods were taken on different, though possibly consecutive, workdays. To ACT’s knowledge, the settlement has not resulted in either NGB defunding that State, or arrest or indictment of the TAG, who personally signed the settlement agreement.
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Inside Story
Disabilty Annuity
Cover Story
Lee Hedrick Central Region Field Rep
The Ugly Truth Currently throughout our workforce we hear or witness people being Medically discharged from service at a much higher rate than we did pre-September 11, 2001. Simultaneously, we have seen a lot of Title 32 employees also lose their civilian employment for loss of military membership. When this happens there is always someone out there advising those individuals, “you need to apply for a 60-40.” What they mean is there is a Federal Annuity, a specific retirement, for those who can no longer perform their duties due to a medical/physical inability. What this entitles an employee to is 60% of their high 3 salary for the first year and 40% each year afterwards until they reach eligibility for social security. You may have heard about this annuity but not truly understood the process. You may have heard it is automatic for those T32 types who apply for it, or that nobody gets denied a 60-40. This is not true, and that is why there is an appeal process for those who get denied. Initially there where many denials, and Congress enacted a couple small changes to the process. Supposedly, to make it easier
for those with a medical discharge from the Armed Services to qualify. However, we are seeing more and more denials. Understanding the Request Process: When you apply for this type of annuity you have to submit two SF forms and all supporting documentation, such as medical documentations detailing your disease or ailment in support of your claim of diminished capabilities, and even your military discharge paperwork. Your agencies benefits personnel should be assisting you throughout the process and ensuring your claim gets sent the Army Benefits Center – Civilian (ABC-C; yes, AFNG uses this too). The Standard Forms 14
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Inside Story On the SF 3112, there is a portion that is titles Supervisor’s Statement and this portion of the application is what gets most people a denial through the application process! Managers wanting to be kind and not kick someone that is already down, or not fully understanding the way this type of annuity works, cause unforeseen impacts upon the applicants. Their statements need to be brutally honest and show the ugly truth. Reasonable Accommodations Light/Limited Duty
or
A big reason we see denials is because the employee was never limited from doing portions of their duties on paper. We all know that employee who physically could only do about half of their job, but we understand why and just pick up the slack and keep them floating. When that employee files for their annuity the Supervisor needs to say just that, and not be the good guy. Their statement needs to reflect this employee fell way short of their prescribed duties, others had to step in and help often. Additionally, when the Supervisor fills out their portions, they don’t need to look at the way the 15 employee took leave the same way. Just because they earned all the leave in the world, they also used it all, and that had an impact on the workplace.
If they don’t write it up this way then we will likely see a denial for that employee. If an employee is limited and can’t perform their duties, they should request a reasonable accommodation. A denied request because the agency can’t facilitate the needed accommodations is much better than no request at all. If the employee is in the MEB process and they know they won’t be retained militarily that is the best time to file. Understand the agency may be able to accommodate the employee, but it might be at a lower rate somewhere else. This won’t affect your high 3 that the annuity is based off of, it just helps solidify your claim to it. Of course, you can get the annuity without this step, it just may take a little more convincing. Appeals A Denial of this annuity can be appealed. It must be in writing and submitted in the appropriate amount of time. If the employee in question is paying union dues with 1 year of membership and in good standing with their chapter, they may be able to retain counsel from the Lawyers we have on retainer, if not they may need to hire their own. This process is not an easy one to undertake alone and I would advise anyone who reaches that point to lawyer up. Just remember not any lawyer out there is going to understand the process, that is why we have hired some of the best. Yes, that was a shameless recruiting plug! Get people signed up because they never know if this might need help getting something they are due. www.chooseACT.com www.ACTnat.com
KEEP THE FAITH DUTY • DIGNITY • DEDICATION
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Fourth Largest Labor Organization within DoD