Civil Service Conflict: Competitive Service Rules Ignored

Labor Trouble Brews at Marshals Service

By Stephen Barr

The Washington Post
Wednesday, April 9, 2008; D04

There are some unhappy employees at the U.S. Marshals Service.

About 220 criminal investigators at the Justice Department agency have formed Marshals Unified to protest a “conversion program” that permits deputy marshals to become criminal investigators without going through the regular civil service competition for jobs.

“The new conversion program, in effect, violates federal merit-system principles that dictate fair implementation and execution of the hiring and promotion practices of federal agencies,” lawyers for Marshals Unified wrote to John F. Clark, director of the Marshals Service.

The dispute, which has gone on for months, demonstrates the ill feelings that can develop in federal agencies when officials change hiring and promotion practices to fill gaps in staffing or meet the demands of increased workloads. Those bad feelings often turn into grievances or court actions if employees perceive that agency managers have no interest in acting on their complaints.

In the Marshals Service case, the conversion program has allowed deputy marshals to become criminal investigators while putting in less time to reach the top career position — General Schedule grade 12 — for that occupation, according to lawyers for the investigators who have filed grievances. It permits an investigator to rise to GS-12 a year or two sooner than investigators who followed the regular merit promotion rules.

The program often allows those who convert to be paid more, despite having less experience than investigators in the older merit system. Every paycheck issued to a converted investigator represents a violation of the government’s principle of equal pay for equal work, the lawyers said.

When some investigators complained about the conversion program to Clark, they were told to take their concerns to the agency’s human resources office, according to the lawyers.

After several months passed with no attention, the investigators sent a letter to Clark through their lawyers. The agency directed them to file individual grievances, and 181 did so.

The grievances, however, were denied by the agency because of “untimeliness,” according to a letter from David Anderson, the deputy assistant director for human resources at the Marshals Service.

The grievances were filed in January, too long after the conversions took place, from May 2003 to August 2006, he wrote.

David Turner, a Marshals Service spokesman, said in an e-mail that the deputy conversion program was developed “to enhance the efficiency” of the agency, which has tried to make the program “as fair as possible.”

Turner said he could not comment further because grievances are pending.

William L. Bransford, one of the lawyers representing Marshals Unified, said a second grievance has been filed and investigators are awaiting a response from the agency. About 300 marshals were put at a financial disadvantage because of the conversion program, Bransford said.

“You would think an agency with that many unhappy employees would talk to them,” he said.

Nominee for Labor Relations Authority

B. Chad Bungard has been nominated by the president for a five-year term as general counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Colleen Duffy Kiko, who left last month to become a member of the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board at the Labor Department.

Federal unions prefer that the general counsel’s position be filled at the Labor Relations Authority in hopes that their claims will be prosecuted and that the administration will pay more attention to labor-management disputes.

Bungard is general counsel of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Previously he was chief counsel and deputy staff director of the federal workforce subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

 

 

Scott Peterson, King County Prosecutor, Allegedly Assaults Woman With His Car

Nothing wrong here in Seattle, where a Senior Deputy King County Prosecutor can, in a fit of pique, allegedly assault a woman with his car and then not be properly investigated, nor held accountable for his actions, leaving the victim confused and angry that there is differential treatment for she and her boyfriend than for King County Prosecutor, Scott Peterson.  Danatte Griffin says, “He [Peterson] didn’t just tap me.  He hit me pretty good, in her interview with KIRO News of Seattle.  Griffin suffered severe bruising on her upper thighs that she said was caused by Peterson’s backing into her with his car, despite her making her presence known to him. Griffin was trying to save a parking space for her boyfriend when Peterson drove up and forcefully took the parking space Griffin was standing in. According to a witness who saw the incident, Peterson impatiently pushed Griffin out of the way with his bumper despite knowing she was standing there waiting. 

 

 

Unbelievably, Peterson, the lead prosecutor in the recent Boeing Whistleblower trial, was not thoroughly investigated, charged and prosecuted by King County for the alleged assault.  The police investigation appears to have been less than it should have been, supporting Griffins complaints of deferential treatment of Peterson in this case.  In fact, witnesses of the assault on Griffin, say that they were not even contacted during the investigation, though multiple people saw the incident.  The victim’s boyfriend however was prosecuted and convicted of assault for taking exception to Mr. Peterson’s attitude and actions toward Griffin.  Griffin wonders why she and her boyfriend are treated differently than Scott Peterson, King County Prosecutor.

 

 

Peterson, after finally agreeing to be interviewed, said “he was having a bad day” and that he “owed the woman an apology.”  KIRO News is investigating the alleged existence of a good old boy system of protecting insiders inside the King County Justice System.  When one puts this incident into comparison with how Scott Peterson conducted the public tarring and feathering of Boeing Whistleblower, Gerald Eastman, this is all the more egregious.

 

The link:

www.kirotv.com/video/3532554/index.html?taf=sea