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Post by Asterisk on Jun 30, 2008 10:07:04 GMT -5
Does anyone know if the 1 year requirement for flexiplace applies to ODAR employees (who had flexiplace) just becoming ALJs?
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Post by aljsouth on Jun 30, 2008 14:59:03 GMT -5
Does anyone know if the 1 year requirement for flexiplace applies to ODAR employees (who had flexiplace) just becoming ALJs? You have to be an ALJ for one year before using flexiplace. This was insisted upon by the agency in bargaining. Prior ODAR experience does not matter for this purpose. This is true for Judges transferring from medicare or other agencies as well. |
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Post by aljsouth on Jun 30, 2008 15:08:14 GMT -5
"Gromit is completely correct. Simply work 4 ten hour days and get 2 hours credit each day. Take off any day of the week you choose. " Interesting....that is exactly what I proposed (because I would very much like to vary my off day). However, I was told by the HOD (and also by people who posted earlier on this thread) that the practice of using credit hours to adjust your weekly schedule is discouraged. When I asked about the 4/10 schedule, the HOD told me that Friday would be my day off. I then said that I would prefer to take off Mondays instead, but I was told that, for people on the 4/10 schedule, Friday is their designated off day. I assumed it is to simply the timekeeping process?? I don't want to rock the boat, but Monday would be a much better day for me. Typical ODAR management. There is nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that "discourages" you from doing what you want to do on this issue. The HOD is NOT your supervisor. The sooner this is established in your mind and the HOD's the better off you will be. Does your office have a labor rep for the judges? Speak to that judge about this. In my office the LAR (labor rep) would be talking to the HOCALJ and threatening a grievance over such high handedness. The LAR can "rock the boat" for you. Unfortunately, those who don't rock the boat will have their work lives run for them by the agency. This is, as one poster said, classic ODAR management. |
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Post by Pixie on Jun 30, 2008 21:35:13 GMT -5
Become familiar with the contract. I believe you want to look at Article 14, which spells out your rights and responsibilities. You can pick any day you want as long as 50% + 1 of the judges in your office don't have that day. Even then your HOCALJ can give you a waiver. As an earlier poster said, make arrangements to be in the office on the last Friday of the month to sign your decisions. That is important to the office.
As aljsouth pointed out, the HOD is not in your chain of command and should not be allowed to assume any authority over you. The HOD is in charge of the support staff. The HOCALJ is your only supervisor in the office. This should be established early in your tenure. Pix.
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Post by workdrone on Jul 1, 2008 0:48:16 GMT -5
As aljsouth pointed out, the HOD is not in your chain of command and should not be allowed to assume any authority over you. The HOD is in charge of the support staff. The HOCALJ is your only supervisor in the office. This should be established early in your tenure. Pix. Amen to both Aljsouth and Pixie's well-put point. You're a Federal ALJ, not a paralegal or a case tech. The HOD is a GS-14 employee who may or may not be an attorney. While the HOD should be treated professionally and with respect, make it clear early on that you answer to the HOCALJ, not the HOD. This will save you a lot of headache down the road. Unfortunately, there's something to be said about those who do not know their rights end up losing it. So it's always good to establish boundaries early.  |
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Post by gromit on Jul 1, 2008 7:14:28 GMT -5
. . . make it clear early on that you answer to the HOCALJ, not the HOD. Well, you really don't answer to the HOCALJ either. |
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Post by oldjag on Jul 1, 2008 9:13:41 GMT -5
Judges do answer to the HOCJ for administrative matters as described in the contract. While we are administrative law judges, we are also agency employees. The HOCJ is the first lime supervisor for the ALJs. While management cannot tell us how to decide cases, nor do we get performance reviews, we have the same obligations as any other federal employee to folloe time and attendance, etc. Pixie is correct, as usual. We don't answer to the HOD, but the HOCALJ is still the first line supervisor
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woody
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Post by woody on Jul 1, 2008 10:38:40 GMT -5
I am going to have to wholeheartedly disagree with Pixie on one point- this whole nonsense of waiting until the last Friday of the month to get the work out. It is just another example of poor management. You just stress out yourself and the staff for no good reason. My advice to the newbies- Hear and decide a steady number of cases and when they are ready, get them out the door. One Friday is no different than the next. What ever case you don't get out this month goes out the next. If you want to flex on Fridays, do it. AND READ YOUR CONTRACT.
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Post by gromit on Jul 1, 2008 11:21:47 GMT -5
While management cannot tell us how to decide cases, nor do we get performance reviews . . . I, therefore, repeat - we really do not answer to the HOCALJ. I don't consider covering benign administrative tasks "answering to" someone. |
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Post by nonamouse on Jul 1, 2008 11:57:50 GMT -5
ALJs may not "answer" to the HOCALJ in the usual sense, but it does not pay to poke the bear. The management team has control of staffing, supplies, staff assignments, etc. You could end up being assigned the crappiest of staff who never get your dockets properly scheduled or your cases written properly on the 1st try.
My advice is to choose your battles wisely and don't come out of the box acting like a prima dona. It won't endear you to anyone in your new office. There may not be any direct confrontations, but there are ways that people can make your life miserable even if you are an ALJ.
If someone gets the work done in a timely manner, works and plays well with others and moves a decent number of cases per month, then other concerns will likely be worked out with good will towards all.
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Post by workdrone on Jul 1, 2008 12:30:21 GMT -5
If someone gets the work done in a timely manner, works and plays well with others and moves a decent number of cases per month, then other concerns will likely be worked out with good will towards all. I concur with Nonamouse's points. An ALJ is not an Army of One. You cannot function with out the support staffs. And while you need to be aware of your rights pursuant to the contract and don't let management take advantage of you, you should always be focused on your primary obligation as an ALJ, which is the adjudication of disability appeals. Many times in Bureaucracyland(tm), little gestures get misinterpreted and turn into full fledge cold wars. So it's always good to approach everything with an open and receptive mind. You can always push back after you're absolutely sure they're trying to pull a fast one. Don't be a prima dona because no one appreciate that and you'll end up having to watch your back constantly. |
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Post by gromit on Jul 1, 2008 13:15:48 GMT -5
Don't be a prima dona because no one appreciate that and you'll end up having to watch your back constantly. Just for clarity sake, I don't believe that I've advocated that anyone be a prima donna or "poke the bear." I basically assume that all of us know how to work civilly in an office by treating co-workers with respect and by not being a jerk. If simple things like that need to be spelled out on this board, there are bigger problems that need to be addressed than worrying about who "supervises" who. |
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Post by Propmaster on Jul 1, 2008 21:29:42 GMT -5
And again, because of the concept of working together, it is important to remember that some people are only motivated by deadlines. It may make sense to you that even if that deadline-oriented writer gets 18 decisions ready for the last Friday of the month, you can sign them the next month; but as an ALJ, you have presumably (or arguably? or assumedly?) higher reasoning skills than some decision writers. Thus, when you don't sign the ones they have to go out, I wouldn't be surprised if they "de-prioritize" your decisions the next month when they kick into high gear the last week. All the sudden, you're waiting on decisions to be written, but you could accommodate the known foibles of other workers and have kept your own numbers up, too.
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Post by tyrionc on Jul 9, 2008 12:16:08 GMT -5
I have a somewhat related question. I have always worked in private practice so the idea of flextime and credit hours is all new to me. Here is what I am trying to wrap my head around. A "normal duty day" is 8-430 which amounts to 8 hours of work plus 30 minutes for lunch. So then, if someone is working a 4/10 schedule to have a day off each week, do they need to be there 10 1/2 hours to again allow for that lunch period?
Also, I am a little concerned about the amount of personal days I will be able to accrue before we get to the holidays and will be looking to earn as many credit hours as possible (I see we can only have 24 total credit hours in the bank at any one time). Can credit hours be earned on the weekends? Do you have to be physically in the office or is it possible to earn credit hours working from home on the weekend?
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Post by happy on Jul 9, 2008 13:17:46 GMT -5
. . . . if someone is working a 4/10 schedule to have a day off each week, do they need to be there 10 1/2 hours to again allow for that lunch period? . . . . Can credit hours be earned on the weekends? Do you have to be physically in the office or is it possible to earn credit hours working from home on the weekend? Yes, you must work 10.5 hours to allow for the lunch period. And from the Collective Bargaining Agreement: A. Procedures
1. A Judge can earn up to 2½ credit hours per workday, Monday through Friday.
2. A Judge can earn up to 8 credit hours on a non-regular work day, excluding holidays (5 U.S.C. §6103), as follows:
a. A Judge can earn no more than a total of eight credit hours on non-regular work days in any calendar week; and
b. One of the following conditions apply:
i. Other hearing office employees are working in the hearing office on the non-regular work day;
ii. When utilities (including heat and air conditioning) are normally available in the hearing office on non-regular workdays regardless of whether other hearing office employees are working in the hearing office; or
iii. With the concurrence of his/her HOCALJ or Judge designee a Judge may work credit hours in the Hearing Office on a non-regular workday, excluding holidays.
a. Credit hours may be earned between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on a non-regular work day, excluding holidays, consistent with Section 4(A)(2)(b)(i-iii).
3. A Judge may earn credit hours while working at a temporary duty station in travel status. When a Judge on a FWA is required to revert to a regular 5/8 (five eight-hour days) schedule for hearing trips, the Judge may earn credit hours at the temporary duty station and on the Saturday following.
4. A Judge may earn no more than twenty-eight (28) credit hours per pay period.
5. Credit hours may be earned in one-quarter (1/4) hour increments.
6. The maximum number of credit hours a Judge may carry over from one (1) pay period to the next is twenty-four (24).
7. Use of earned credit hours will be requested by submitting a form SSA-71. The Judge will check the block to the left of "Other" and write out credit hours to the right of "Specify".
8. Accrued credit hours may be used alone or in combination with annual leave, sick leave, when appropriate, or religious compensatory time. A Judge may use all or any of his or her accumulated credit hours in a single pay period.
9. Accrued credit hours may be used by a Judge in the same manner as any leave.
10. Judges will provide annual written notice to the HOCALJ or Judge designee of the Judge’s request to work credit hours. The parties acknowledge that given the Agency’s current workload, appropriate work is typically available for credit hours work. In the event a HOCALJ or Judge designee makes a reasonable and good faith determination that work appropriate for credit hours is not available for Judges assigned to the hearing office, the HOCALJ or Judge designee will so notify the hearing office Judges in writing regarding the basis for, and duration of that determination.
11. Starting and leaving times are determined by Section 3 above. Hope that answers your questions. |
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Post by nonamouse on Jul 9, 2008 13:43:28 GMT -5
A bit more clarity on the credit hours on weekends for newbies. Basically, there will be some weekends when management offers overtime to the staff for certain tasks like case pulling or decision writing. They will have the heat or A/C turned on for specific hours on Saturday and/or Sunday on that weekend for the OT. These are the usual situations referred to in item #2b(i) and 2b(ii). However, a HOCALJ can allow ALJs to work any weekend. You may wish that you had not done so if the heat or A/C is not running!
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Post by Pixie on Jul 10, 2008 20:07:33 GMT -5
I am going to have to wholeheartedly disagree with Pixie on one point- this whole nonsense of waiting until the last Friday of the month to get the work out. It is just another example of poor management. You just stress out yourself and the staff for no good reason. My advice to the newbies- Hear and decide a steady number of cases and when they are ready, get them out the door. One Friday is no different than the next. What ever case you don't get out this month goes out the next. If you want to flex on Fridays, do it. AND READ YOUR CONTRACT. The office typically makes its goal on the last Friday of the month. Whether that is bad management is really immaterial; that's just the way it is. And it is that way for a number of reasons. Yes, hear and decide a steady number of cases during the month and make yourself available to sign the favorable decisions that will come across your desk on the last Friday of the month. This Friday is not like all of the other Fridays in the month. It is the day when everyone in the office should be pulling together to meet the office goal. Even if a judge thinks it is a silly exercise, it is an important exercise and has a direct impact on the judges. Productive offices that consistently meet goal are rewarded with new hires. Offices that don't pull their load receive no new employees, and must limp along the best they can. Not good for morale. If one wants to flex on Fridays, then it should be easy to substitute Thursday for the last Friday in the month. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Pix. |
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mango
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Post by mango on Jul 11, 2008 8:53:39 GMT -5
That being said, please please please don't be one of those ALJs that uses his/her Flexiplace day as a "day off." It's "work at home"!!! And technically, you're not allowed to alter your work schedule by regularly using credit hours to be off every Friday. However, I know that it happens.
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Happy, I am quoting you above and am curious why you say this. I have just started and frankly, I cannot accomplish the expected work in a 40 hour work week. I have been burning it from both ends and routinely put in 10 plus hour days. I know from hearing from fellow judges I went to school with, they are doing the same. If I don't use the credit hours, I loss them. That is a bad thing. If I have to work on my time, I would much prefer to do it at home with my coffee pot and fridge available as needed. It also allows me to adjust from a sit stand option as needed (big smile). Anyway, was wonder why you make the comment indicating a limitation on how and when I use the credit hours.
Thanks.
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Post by Propmaster on Jul 11, 2008 9:10:51 GMT -5
Regarding what Happy said: I never take work home. I know from experience that I won't do it, it's too distracting to me to have the comforts of home. I'd do the 4/10 hours in a heartbeat (I just took a three hour break to go home and shower, but otherwise I've been at work for about 24 hours and will be here for another 8), but I would feel to guilty "working" at home.
Regarding Mango's post: I think Happy was referring to abuse of the system, not what you mentioned. Happy's comment about using the flexiplace as a "day off" refers to people Happy has probably been exposed to that don't make any appreciable dent in their workload when in flexiplace.
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Post by happy on Jul 11, 2008 13:23:22 GMT -5
Propmaster has me right on the abuse of flexiplace, but I think Mango was referring to my "altering the work schedule" comment. I'm not sure I am connecting with the working on your own time at home versus at the office. If you want to work on your own time, I don't think anybody cares where you do it, provided you are safeguarding PII. As for use of credit, I said "technically." I should have said "not supposed to" as opposed to "not allowed to." The idea is that you have the opportunity to elect to do a 5/4/9 or a 4/10 work schedule. When you do so, the office has an idea of when to expect you to be present for work. However, if you are expected to be working an 8 hour day, 5 days per week, but then you work credit hours and take a day off every week or so, the office can't really plan around that because they'll never know when you will or won't be there, whether or which day you'll take off. It's a seemingly small thing, but it can bugger up management. If you don't care, you can just be another one of "those" ALJs and complain when management doesn't bend over backward to make your life easier. (Of course, I'm not saying that management in any particular office would, but I'd certainly doubt the likelihood if you prove to be "difficult.")  |
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