The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

8 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2005 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Continued from page 6 Family Member Matters on the Web We are always looking for writers for the popular AFSA News feature, Family Member Matters. You can now find previous editions of this feature on the AFSA Web site at www.afsa.org/FSVoice.cfm. Submissions for other AFSA News features are always welcome, so consider a contribution to one of these peri- odic features: Of Special(ist) Concern (we know there are specialists out there with concerns to raise, so please write!); The Lighter Side (FS Humor); Memo of the Month; and Inside the FS Community (noteworthy news from and about our members). Send submissions to afsanews@afsa.org an ytime. Contribute to New Realities for AAFSW Articles and essays by Foreign Service officers and fami- ly members are needed for a sequel to AAFSW’s book Realities of Foreign Service Life. Share your perspective on Foreign Service life, help newcomers and see your work published in a book. Topics will be assigned, or the editors welcome your suggestions. Proceeds benefit AAFSW; writers receive a free copy of the book. Contact Marlene Nice at marnice5@yahoo.com or Patricia Linderman at patricia@aafsw.org . After a long and sometimes contentious struggle, AFSA was instrumental in getting USAID to overturn the Travel Office’s denial of Claims Act reimbursement for losses of household effects resulting from an employee’s ordered evacuation from post. The employee will now receive reimbursement of nearly $44,000 that the travel office had improperly denied twice. This has happened before, and AFSA interven- tion made the difference then, too. The moral is that employees getting questionable responses to Claims Act submissions should not hesitate to seek AFSA’s assis- tance. Note that by law Claims Act matters may not be grieved; they must be adjudicated within an agency. Elsewhere, the saga continues: USAID still refuses to reinstate two employees improperly selected out despite the explicit, lawful directives by the Foreign Service Grievance Board that it do so. The obduracy is rooted in the office of the general counsel, not the personnel office. USAID General Counsel lawyers have invested a great deal in litigating these cases at the Grievance Board level; we suspect that they must be sore losers. (Recall that USAID refused to rein- state the grievants or to appeal.) In both cases, the winning grievants have now appealed in federal court for mandamus; that is, to have the court com- pel USAID to do what the Grievance Board ordered it to do: reinstate the employees. Glory does not shine on USAID in this matter. USAID & Grievances Suzanne D. Manfull AFSA Scholarship Established BetweenNovember 2004andFebruary2005,AFSAacceptedmemo- rial donations for a new scholarship, adding up to over $2,600. Thismoneywill be awarded as aneed-basedFinancial AidScholarship in Suzanne Manfull’s name to a Foreign Service undergraduate col- lege student in September, for the 2005/2006 academic year. Mrs. Manfull passed away onOct. 29, 2004, inWashington, D.C. She was the wife of Melvin L. Manfull, who died Sept. 11, 2000. Mr. Manfull was a retired Foreign Service officer and former ambassador to the Central African Republic and the Republic of Liberia, credited with helping the State Department initiate key changes in management practices. Upon his death, memorial donations were collected for an AFSA scholarship in Amb. Manfull’s name. Mrs. Manfull wanted the same thingdoneuponher death. Shewas inspiredby the appreciative thank- you letter fromthe recipient of the firstManfull Scholarship. Herdaugh- ter, Lisa Manfull Harper, was instrumental in working with AFSA to set up this additional scholarship. AFSAmade collection for the fund simple by having individuals donate throughAFSA’s scholarshipWeb page. You can still donate to the Suzanne D. Manfull Scholarship. Contact AFSA Scholarship Director Lori Dec at (202) 944-5504 or dec@afsa.org for more information.