The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

50 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 2012 AFSA ANNUAL REPORT AFSA NEWS Throughout 2012, AFSA’s Labor Management staff dealt with a wide array of employment-related issues. By the close of the year, we were working on approxi- mately 280 active individual cases: grievances, discipline proceedings and security clearance issues; Diplomatic Security, Office of the Inspec- tor General and Office of Civil Rights investigations; and Benghazi Accountability Review Board inquiries. Counseling Members In addition, the LM staff counseled thousands of members on issues relating to, among other things, per- formance appraisals, promo- tions, time-in-class/time-in- service, tenure, assignments (including 5/8 waivers, DS assignment restrictions and involuntary curtailments); Office of Medical Services issues (clearances, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, disabilities, demands for repayment of medical bills); and allowances, per diem, entry-level salaries, overtime pay, workers compensation, debts, leave forfeiture, retire- ment, transportation/stor- ages, and cohabitation and contact reporting. Institutional Issues The staff also worked on institutional issues relating to Foreign Commercial Ser- vice consolidation; Foreign Agricultural Service promo- tion numbers; concerns with Diplomatic Security’s Office of Special Investigations, including issues relating to audio/video recording of interviews; Senior Foreign Service salary conversion; Separate Maintenance Allow- ance for foreign-born, same- sex partners; the availability of the job search program for retirees at 65 years of age with less than 20 years of service; the department’s policy of hiring employees at age 58; legal protections for employees who have been on military leave; denial of medical treatment at post Labor Management: Taking On All Issues BY SHARON PAPP, AFSA GENERAL COUNSEL Labor Management Staff (left to right): Staff Attorney Andrew Large, Senior Staff Attorney Neera Parikh, Office Manager Christine Warren, Deputy General Counsel Zlatana Badrich, General Counsel Sharon Papp, USAID Senior Labor Management Advisor Douglas Broome, Labor Management Counselor Janet Weber and Staff Attorney Raeka Safai. (Not pictured: Senior Labor Management Advisor James Yorke) to children of separated parents; educational allow- ance for children of employ- ees on reimbursable details at AFRICOM; waiver forms for employees assigned to High-Threat Tactical train- ing; concerns relating to DS Ready Teams whereby agents are on-call for 30 days and can be deployed within 24 hours notice to any post; and issues relating to a new MED credentialing form, to name a few. Off-Duty Conduct In 2012 the State Depart- ment proposed disciplinary action—ranging from a five- day suspension to separation for cause—against a number of employees for off-duty conduct that, in some cases, it had not sought to regulate in the past (extramarital affairs between consent- ing adults and the content of employee’s personal e-mails/texts messages/ blogs). The Grievance Board issued several instructive decisions relating to extra- marital affairs. In one case, the board found that the department’s regulations found in the Foreign Affairs Manual (3 FAM 4130 and 4139.1) did not put grievant “…on sufficient notice that he would be subject to discipline for extramarital sex with con- senting women without any aggravating factors, such as dishonesty, intoxication, pay- ment, exploitation, chain-of- command issues, coworker relations, criterion country nationals, or the prominence of grievant’s position.” The board found, however, that because grievant was married and did not explicitly disclose his infidelity to his spouse, he created at least the possibility of blackmail. The board mitigated a three- day suspension to a letter of Continued on page 67 DONNAAYERST