Labor Troubles at the National Labor Relations Board?
The National Labor Relations Board — the government entity charged with overseeing labor relations issues across the U.S. — appears to be having labor troubles of its own.
The National Labor Relations Board Professional Association (NLRBPA), a union representing employees who work at the NLRB’s headquarters, issued a press release slamming a new performance evaluation system implemented by the NLRB. In a somewhat unusual development, the NLRBPA’s complaints are centered on the Board’s Democrat member, rather than the typically-targeted Republicans.
The NLRBPA says it is trying to prevent a “September massacre” of “unfair and discriminatory mid-year appraisals and reprisals against its members.” At the center of the hullabaloo is a “forced distribution” system (lovingly dubbed ”rank and yank” by the NLRBPA), similar to the the one popularized by GE and other corporations.
The NLRBPA contends that the new system requires that managers force employees into a pre-established distribution. As a result, many employees who have long been given high ratings are now being placed into lower-rated categories. More than a third of the 45 employees filed grievances. In addition, the NLRBPA says that the system discriminates against older, female and disabled workers, which resulted in a number of charges being filed with the EEOC.
The NLRBPA alleges that the Wilma Liebman, the NLRB’s lone Democrat, “has not settled a single grievance and threatened reprisals against grievants and a union officer.” Interestingly, the union says that NLRB Chair Peter Schaumber, “despite his conservative, pro-employer reputation, has cooperated with the union to settle most of the appraisal grievances of the attorneys assigned to him.”
Stay tuned for more.
(Special thanks to the Workplace Prof Blog)
