Welcome to FEA Online!

New on FEAONLINE

TWO GREAT VICTORIES FOR STATESIDE MEMBERS

posted August 14, 2019

FEA-Stateside has prevailed in a pair of improper dismissal cases affecting members at Fort Knox and Fort Jackson. In both cases, arbitrators ruled that DoDEA improperly dismissed employees over certification issues. The Agency was ordered to reinstate both employees, though without the backpay the Association argued was legally owed to them. Congratulations to the impacted educators who are now being reinstated, and also to FEA-Stateside General Counsel Angelia Stubbs, who handled both cases. As always, the Association stands up for members against wrongful acts by management!

POSITIVE NEWS ON PCS TAX RELIEF FOR RETIRING, INCOMING EMPLOYEES

Both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees have included language to extend RITA/WTA reimbursements to retiring/departing and incoming federal civilians being taxed on PCS moves. Find out what that means for the possibility of the tax relief being enacted here.

FEA AREA DIRECTOR ELECTIONS

Nominations are now being accepted for the following offices on the FEA Board of Directors:

FEA Director for DDESS
FEA Pacific Area Director
FEA Europe Area Director

Nomination forms, election guidelines and other materials can be found at the FEA Election Information Page.

Nomination forms must be received by October 16, 2019. Ballots will be mailed to FEA members January 16, 2020, and must be received by March 24, 2020, to be counted.

Please consider nominating yourself or another FEA Active Member for office!

August 2019 Journal Now Online

Stateside and Overseas contract updates; Threat to Due Process and Grievance rights; Area Director Election Info; Possible PCS tax relief. More inside.
Read the August FEA Journal in PDF format

Overseas Bargaining Update #3

Management wants to increase the length of the duty day and eliminate guaranteed prep time

posted July 31, 2019
As part of a new contract for Overseas employees, DoDEA wants to extend the work day to 8.5 hours (8 hours of duty time plus a 30 minute duty-free lunch), with no added pay.

The Agency also proposes to eliminate the guarantee of prep time for Overseas secondary educators and instead only provide "reasonable/adequate" prep time, whatever that may mean.

Read FEA's Overseas Bargaining Update #3 for more information

APPEALS COURT RULES AGAINST UNIONS IN FIGHT OVER ANTI-EMPLOYEE EXEC ORDERS

posted July 16, 2019

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has overturned an earlier ruling against a trio of anti-employee/anti-union Executive Orders issued by the Trump White House in 2018.

The three Executive Orders attack federal workers and their unions in numerous ways, including mandating changes and eliminating due process in order to speed up and ease the process of firing employees deemed to be "bad performers"; severely limiting the amount of time employee-elected union representatives can spend performing representational duties, such as helping with grievance filings; and placing time limits on the duration of collective bargaining.

Read FEA's full update on the decision here.

SMART LES FIGHT CAN CONTINUE

posted June 24, 2019

FEA's Unfair Labor Practice over management's failure to develop a "Smart LES" to better explain pay, benefits, deductions, etc. was filed in a timely manner and can proceed, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, overturning the NLRA's rejection of the ULP. See the full story here.

Stripes Article Highlights PTR Increases, Lack of Info From DoDEA

Read the June 24 story on the harmful impact of DoDEA's completely unnecessary increases to PTR at the middle and high school level and the lack of information from DoDEA headquarters about the cuts.
Planned course cuts, bigger classes at schools for military kids frustrate families, teachers

STATESIDE MEMBERS: BE SURE TO LOG UNPAID TIME

FEA-Stateside members are reminded to use the Association-provided tracking sheet to log the unpaid hours they were required to work this school year and submit the tracking sheets to FEA-SR, for use in the Association's upcoming arbitration. Read the full update and access the tracking form here.

WE ARE NOT ALONE IN OUR FIGHT

NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia recorded this fantastic message of support and thanks to FEA members worldwide and reminds us that we are not alone in our fight against DoDEA and the federal government for better working and learning conditions. Visit this page (when you are off duty, off government property and not using government equipment) to voice your opposition to DoDEA's unilateral and illegal contract actions in Stateside schools and look for more opportunities to take action in the months ahead.

End of An Era

FEA Executive Director/General Counsel H.T. Nguyen Announces Plans to Retire End of 2019

Read H.T.'s statement to members here

FEA-STATESIDE ACTION ON DODEA's ILLEGAL CONTRACT IMPLEMENTATION

With help from NEA's Government Relations office, FEA-Stateside Region (FEA-SR) and FEA's Washington DC Office are reaching out to decision makers on Capitol Hill, educating them about the serious harm being done to the working and learning environment in Stateside schools.

Learn more about FEA-SR's efforts

FEA-Stateside Arbitrating Illegal Contract Implementation

FEA-Stateside Region is proceeding to arbitration over management's efforts to illegally and unilaterally impose a new contract on Stateside schools, including its dictate forcing Stateside employees to work extended hours without added compensation in violation of the current valid contract. Read the update from FEA-SR here

DoDEA Releases Info on RITA/WTA for PCS Taxes

posted March 11, 2019
DoDEA has (FINALLY!) issued guidance to Overseas employees regarding the availability of and procedure to follow in order to claim Relocation Income Tax Allowance (RITA) and/or Withholding Tax Allowance (WTA) for taxes on applicable civilian PCS moves. Anyone who PCSed in 2018 is advised to visit DoDEA's Web site and carefully read the guidance from DoDEA (found at the bottom of the linked page) to make sure you take advantage of the resources available to you.
DoDEA Info on PCS and Tax Changes

DoDEA Withdraws Law Attacking Workers' Rights

In a victory for DoDEA employees and proponents everywhere of workers' rights, DoDEA has announced it is withdrawing a proposed law that would have stripped workers of rights and basis civil service protections under the guise of merging Stateside and Overseas schools into a single system. The law may be reintroduced in the future, however.

Read the full update from FEA on this issue here

DODEA PLAN TO INCREASE SECONDARY CLASS SIZES IS HARMFUL TO STUDENT LEARNING

posted January 4, 2019
DoDEA Director Tom Brady has informed employees he intends to implement unspecified increases in Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR) that would result in increases to secondary school class sizes -- a move FEA denounces as harmful to student learning and unnecessary, given the hundreds of wasteful administrative positions within DoDEA that should be cut before any changes to PTR are even considered.

Read FEA's full update on management's announcement.

Hatch Act Information

Visit this page to learn more about the Hatch Act and find examples of activities allowed and prohibited under the law.
Hatch Act Do's and Don'ts

FEA HCR Newsletter and other HCR Info

View the latest issue of The Advocate, the monthly newsletter of FEA's Human and Civil Rights Program, and find other resources by clicking here.

FEA Social Media

FEA members (and anyone else) can follow FEA on Facebook and Twitter. We remind members these are public forums and should not be used to solicit or share legal advice. Members should always begin the process of seeking legal advice and services by contacting their local association representative and not share or reveal any personal information, particularly information pertaining to legal situations, on any public forum or social media site.

As always, we encourage our members to use these resources courteously and professionally.

Follow FEA on Twitter (#fededassoc)

Like FEA on Facebook

Teaching Channel: Videos that Inspire Teaching

The Teaching Channel website offers a growing library of short videos to inspire K-12 teaching. These video lessons - in English language arts, math, science, and history/social sciences - include lesson objectives, questions to consider, homework ideas, and more.

Free registration provides access to:

Highlights of skilled teachers teaching a lesson, such as Kick Me: Making Vocabulary Interactive

Tips and tricks for new teachers, such as Attention Getting Signals: One Spot and Planning Full Days & Practicing Fast Facts

Featured "Amazing Classrooms," such as Building Community in a Multi-Language Classroom

See the Welcome to Teaching Channel video.

Updates for our Members

Read the FEA President's Report and link to other updates for FEA members here.