American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1770 Announces $5,000,000.00 Arbitration Victory for Womack Army Medical Center Union Personnel
Fayetteville, NC. American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 1770 President Don Gambill and Baltimore Union Attorney Michael Snider, Esq. announce that the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has ruled in the Union’s favor, ending three years of appeals by the US Government.
The Army at Fort Bragg had failed to implement pay differential for eligible staff, blaming it on the Union. The Union had requested that the pay differential be implemented, and a federal arbitrator ruled in the Union’s favor. Nearly 1000 registered nurses, physician assistants, dental assistants, dental hygienists, X-ray technicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, nuclear medicine technologists and dental laboratory technicians will share up to $5 million in backpay and interest.
The Law Offices of Snider & Associates, LLC, federal employment attorneys, worked alongside Federal Union AFGE Local 1770 to organize documents, prepare witnesses, present testimony and evidence, and file post-hearing briefs which convince the Arbitrator to rule in the Union’s favor. Despite a solid decision ruling for the Union, the US Army decided to appeal. The case languished at the FLRA for three years. Due to the high interest rates used by the US Office of Personnel Management on backpay, which is compounded daily, the backpay for this case has increased over 36%.
The case will now move into the damages calculation and implementation phase. “Since its inception, this case has been about protecting employees at the Department of Army Womack Medical Center, and ensuring that they were properly compensated for work they did for the Agency,” said Michael J. Snider, Esq. of Snider & Associates LLC., Lead Counsel for both AFGE Local 1770.
AFGE Local 1770 President Don Gambill was ecstatic over this win: “This settlement will ensure that the Agency will comply with government regulations and its pay obligations and will protect both current and future Fort Bragg civilian employees,” he stated.
The class action Grievance and Arbitration, which covers up to an estimated 1,000 current and former Fort Bragg civilian employees, alleged that numerous employees were underpaid for their overtime, night and weekend work. The Army’s failure to move them into the Title 38 Pay schedule adversely affected their ability to receive appropriate pay for overtime hours that were worked. The Grievance was initiated in 2004 by Gambill when Ft. Bragg civilian personnel refused to follow the law with regard to implementation of Title 38 pay. “We knew the Agency should have implemented the new pay system immediately, and asked that they do so,” said Gambill. “We talked with them about this for at least a month before filing the grievance, but they denied that they could pay our people. We filed the Grievance and now our people will get paid.”