AFGE | Legal Rights Attorney Program

AFGE | Legal Rights Attorney Program: "STEP THREE – The Council or Local agrees to accept the following responsibilities when notified of the acceptance of the case for LRA program assistance:

* Updating the case documents provided to GCO as specified in STEP ONE above as they become available and keeping GCO advised of all communications regarding the case and current pertinent contact telephone numbers and email addresses.
* Meeting all deadlines for any case submitted for review until the Council or Local has been notified in writing that the case has been accepted for LRA Program representation.
* Handling all communications with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, including requests for arbitration panels.
* Managing the grievance or appeal process until a hearing date has been scheduled. Generally, GCO will not even begin the evaluation of a case until after a decision has been made by a Council or Local to proceed to a third party appeal.
* Committing to see the case through to the end. The Local or Counsel must be committed to invoke arbitration or to file an appeal, or already have done so.

Case Evaluation Criteria

AFGE’s GCO will determine in its sole discretion, based on all of the circumstances, whether to provide attorney assistance for cases, based generally on the following criteria:

* The Local or Council must have fully complied with STEP ONE above.
* The type of case must be appropriate, that is, arbitration, appeal to the Merit System Protection Board, or appeal to another administrative review board (not the EEOC or FLRA) which has authority to order back pay and attorney’s fees.
* The case must involve one of the following: discipline with loss of pay (removal, suspension, reduction in grade or pay), overtime pay under title 5 or the Fair Labor Standards Act, performance-based action with loss of pay, denial of promotion, or denial of a monetary entitlement.
* The case must be arbitrable or appealable: all time limits must have been timely met, the employee must have valid appeal or arbitration rights (e.g., is not a probationary employee), and the subject matter must be appropriate (e.g., not a classification appeal or other non-grievable matter).
* There must be at least a fifty/fifty chance the case can be resolved to the satisfaction of the Local or Council. In the event of success on the merits a reasonable chance of obtaining fees must exist.
* Preference will be given to those cases which involve extraordinary circumstances, including violations of constitutional or civil rights, retaliation against union officials, and/or outrageous conduct by an agency or management official.

LRA Program Benefits

LR Attorneys are experienced litigators, part of the AFGE legal team under the supervision of AFGE’s General Counsel, and committed to the best possible representation. Additionally, there are no costs to the Council or Local for an LR Attorney, and in some arbitration cases a portion of the arbitrator’s fees may be paid from AFGE’s Legal Representation Fund (LRF).

* All travel, lodging, and per diem costs of the attorney area are paid from the LRF.
* Any separate costs of litigating attorney’s fee disputes before an arbitrator are paid from the LRF.
* Effective in cases accepted for LRA Program representation after January 1, 2007, if attorney’s fees are recovered, the Council or Local will be reimbursed for the Council or Local’s portion of the arbitrator’s fee up to a maximum of $2,000 per case not to exceed the actual amount of the fees recovered. For example, if there is an attorney’s fees award of $1,500, the Council/Local’s reimbursement for its portion of the arbitrator’s fee is capped at $1,500.

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