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	Published by the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 46 Serving IRS Employees of North Texas September/October 2008

notice of performance deficiencies with an explanation of why, unless it is obvious, that something is a deficiency (i.e., notice element);

2) notice that the deficiencies may or will result in a lower performance rating (i.e., impact element); and,

3) an explanation of what must be done to bring performance back up to its previous level (i.e., improvement element.)"

In this case the arbitrator found that although the manager gave notice of the deficiencies, he did not provide sufficient notice that linked the deficiencies to a lower evaluation and did not provide any explanation of how to improve performance. Even though the supervisor provided an e-mail nine months into the appraisal cycle that the employee could expect a lower evaluation, he effectively shifted the burden of providing advice from him to the grievant by telling her to come to him with "questions or concerns." The arbitrator ordered the grievant's evaluation raised to her previous rating of "Excellent."

With any victory there is a cost. This case is no exception. This arbitration was heard by the arbitrator at a cost of over seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000). Payment if these expenses are divided between IRS, Nation NTEU and our local chapter as follows:

IRS $8,777.20
National NTEU $4,388.60
NTEU Chapter 46 $4,388.60

Our NTEU attorney did a great job on this one. Her good work was backed up, of course, by the outstanding work of the stewards and officers of chapter 46.


	Your Dues at Work An arbitrator has recently ruled that the Office of Chief Counsel improperly lowered a Senior Criminal Tax Attorney's appraisal from "Excellent" to "Fully Successful" because the Office of Chief Counsel failed to provide the counseling required by the NTEU/OCC contract. This is a great victory for NTEU Chapter 46 and its members, especially those in Office of Chief Counsel. For those who may be unaware, the Office of Chief Counsel is under a separate contract that is different from that under the National Agreement. This arbitration decision found that the Office of Chief Counsel contract has a counseling obligation similar to the National Agreement before an appraisal can be lowered. This decision establishes case law that will be used nationwide in the Office of Chief Counsel. The grievant, a Senior Criminal Tax Attorney in Dallas, has worked for the IRS for over 20 years. NTEU argued that supervisor's notes were not counseling but rather the normal "give and take" between employees and supervisors. There was nothing in these notes that indicated any dissatisfaction with the grievant's performance. It was not until nine months into the rating period that any information was provided about a possible lowering of her appraisal. More importantly, the supervisor never provided counseling about how to improve her performance to maintain her rating and simply telling the employee her rating would decrease and telling her to come to him with "questions or concerns" is not sufficient. The arbitrator found that counseling requires three elements:

NTEU Mission: To Organize Federal Employees To Work Together To Ensure That Every Federal Employee Is Treated With Dignity And Respect.

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