VA Canteen Employees Have Grievance Rights!
Case name: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX and AFGE, Local 1633,FMCS Case Number 100915-04342-1 (2/2/2012)
Ruling: Attorney Pines and AFGE 1633 were victorious in having the arbitrator find that a VA Canteen employee was wrongfully removed, and therefore should be put back to work and paid back pay for over a year and half of pay.
What it means: In a precedent-setting victory, the arbitrator ordered that the agency put a VA Canteen employee back to work with back pay. The agency had relied on a long-standing precedent of cases finding that Non-Preference Eligible VA Canteen Employees cannot appeal their cases before the MSPB or the VA The arbitrator found that grievance rights and MSPB rights were not one and the same, and granted jurisdiction. The arbitrator found that the VA employee was wrongfully terminated, and should be put back to work with full back pay of approximately $60,000.