Paid leave
The National Agreement negotiated between
NALC and the Postal Service contains many rights and benefits related to
leave from the workplace. Most city carriers are familiar with the rules and
contractual provisions related to annual, sick and bereavement leave. However,
these are not the only negotiated provisions related to paid leave available to
city carriers. This month’s article will describe some other lesser-known types
of leave provided by the National Agreement, including court leave, military
leave and Wounded Warriors leave.
Court leave
Court leave is
provided for career employees who are
summoned to serve as a juror or
witness in certain judicial proceedings. The definition and eligibility rules
governing court leave are found in the Employee
and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), Section 516.2, which reads:
516.2 Court Leave 516.21 Definition
Court leave
is the authorized absence from work status (without loss of or reduction in
pay, leave to which otherwise entitled, credit for time or service, or
performance rating) of an employee who is summoned in connection with a
judicial proceeding, by a court or authority responsible for the conduct of
that proceeding, to serve as a juror, as a witness in a nonofficial capacity on
behalf of a state or local government, or as a witness in a nonofficial capacity
on behalf of a private party in a judicial proceeding to which the Postal
Service is a party or the real party in interest. The court or judicial
proceeding may be located in the District of Columbia, a state, territory, or
possession of the United States, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
516.22 Eligibility
|
|
|
Contract Talk by the Contract
Administration Unit |
|
Contract
Administration Unit Brian Renfroe, Executive Vice President Lew Drass, Vice President Christopher Jackson, Director of City Delivery Manuel L. Peralta Jr., Director of Safety and Health Dan Toth, Director of Retired Members Jim Yates, Director of Life Insurance |
|
The Postal Record |
Court leave
is granted to full-time and part-time regular employees. Certain part-time
flexible employees are granted court leave as provided and governed by
applicable collective bargaining agreements. Other employees are ineligible for
court leave and must use either annual leave or LWOP to cover the period of
absence from postal duties for court service but may retain any fees or
compensation received incident to such court service. Court leave is granted
only to eligible employees who would be in work status or on annual leave
except for jury duty or service as a witness in a nonofficial capacity on
behalf of a state or local government, or service as a witness in a nonofficial
capacity on behalf of a private party in
40 August 2021
a judicial
proceeding to which the Postal Service is a party or the real party in
interest. An employee on LWOP, when called for such court service, although
otherwise eligible for court leave, is not granted court leave but may retain
any fees or compensation received incident to court service.
Full- and part-time regular letter carriers who are
summoned to court service while on annual leave will have the leave changed to
court leave in accordance with ELM,
Section 516.31.
Part-time flexible (PTF) letter carriers are entitled
to court leave in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Re: PTF
Court Leave, which is found on pages 187 and 188 of the 2019-2023 National
Agreement. To qualify for court leave, a PTF must first complete their probationary
period. CCAs converted to career status who have completed one 360-day term as
a CCA do not have to serve a probationary period. In addition, court leave is
available only if the PTF would otherwise have been in a work status or on
approved annual leave. The amount of court leave for PTFs shall not exceed
eight hours in a service day or 40 hours in a service week.
If a letter carrier on approved court leave is paid a
stipend by the court for the performance of jury duty, the employee is entitled
to keep the allowance as long as it does not exceed $25 per day. Employees must
remit to their supervisor the amount received in excess of $25 per day.
Employees who are eligible to receive such fees are not authorized to waive the
fee.
CCAs are not eligible for court leave; therefore,
they must use either annual leave or leave without pay if summoned for jury
duty. Since these employees are not compensated by the Postal Service for the
court duty, they are entitled to keep any allowance paid by the court for their
service.
Military leave
Career letter
carriers may receive military leave to serve their country in the armed
forces. Military leave is paid leave in which letter carriers can still earn a
paycheck from the Postal Service while they are fulfilling certain obligations
to the military. Paid military leave is authorized absence from postal duties
for hours the employee would have worked during his or her regular schedule,
without loss of pay, time or performance rating, granted to eligible employees.
The rules and regulations governing military leave
are found in ELM, Section 517, which
states in part:
517 Paid Military Leave
517.1 General 517.11 Postal Service Support
The Postal
Service supports employee service in the Reserve or National Guard, and no
action is permitted to discourage either voluntary or involuntary
participation. The Postal Service allows employees to be absent:
a. To
participate in drills or meetings scheduled by the National Guard or Reserve
Units of the armed forces.
b. To attend
usual summer training periods.
c. To perform
any other active duty ordered by the National Guard and Reserve Units of the
armed forces. However, eligible employees are entitled to paid military leave
only for such duty as and to the extent provided below.
517.12 Definition
Paid military
leave is authorized absence from postal duties for hours the employee would
have worked during his or her regular schedule, without loss of pay, time, or
performance rating, granted to eligible employees who are members of the National
Guard or reserve components of the armed forces.
Note:
Non-workdays are not charged against the paid military leave allowed.
517.41 General Allowance
Eligible
full-time and part-time employees receive credit for paid military leave as
follows:
a. Full-time
employees other than D.C. National Guard — 15 calendar days (120 hours) each
fiscal year.
b. Part-time
employees other than D.C. National Guard — 1 hour of military leave for each 26
hours in pay status (including military LWOP) in the preceding fiscal year provided:
(1) Employee was
in pay status a minimum of 1,040 hours in the preceding fiscal year.
Note: A
part-time employee’s time on military LWOP in one fiscal year counts toward
meeting the 1,040 hours’ requirement for the next fiscal year.
(2) Employee’s
pay for military leave does not exceed 80 hours.
As stated above, full-time employees are granted 15 days
of military leave per fiscal year, while part-time employees receive one hour
of military leave for each 26 hours in pay status. Part-time employees must
have a minimum of 1,040 hours in the preceding fiscal year, Unit
and paid military leave cannot exceed
80 hours annually.
Letter carriers should note that the allowance for
military leave, unlike other leave categories in the Postal Service, is based
on the fiscal year and not the leave year. USPS fiscal years begin on Oct. 1
and end on Sept. 30 each year. Keep this distinction in mind when considering
your military leave allowances.
Employees may use military leave intermittently and
may carry over unused military leave from one fiscal year to the next. The
amount of military leave employees may carry over may not exceed 15 days.
To receive paid military leave, the leave must be
substantiated by a copy of the employee’s military orders or other
documentation endorsed by the appropriate military authority. Paid military
leave is provided for specific types of duty and certain military activities
are not eligible. For the specific list of duties covered and more information
related to military leave, read the NALC
Veterans Guide, which can be found on the NALC website at
nalc.org/veterans-guide.
Wounded
Warriors leave
Management is required
to approve leave requests
by disabled veterans to undergo
medical examination or treatment related to their service-connected
disabilities. Unfortunately, letter carriers may not accrue enough paid leave,
especially when they are first hired, to cover these absences. Prior to 2016,
this meant that many veterans with service-connected disabilities had to take
unpaid leave to attend medical appointments.
With the passage of the Wounded Warriors Federal
Leave Act of 2015, certain veterans who chose to commence or resume a civilian
career with the Postal Service following their military service became eligible
to have credited and use up to 104 hours of Wounded Warriors leave to undergo
medical treatment for a service-connected disability rated at 30 percent or
more.
Each January, all employees who are disabled veterans
with a 30 percent or more combined disability rating receive 104 hours of
Wounded Warriors leave to use during that leave year. Upon being hired,
employees who meet the eligibility requirements will be credited with 104 hours
of Wounded Warriors leave. This leave may be used for the remainder of that
leave year. At the end of each leave year, any unused Wounded Warriors leave is
not rolled over to the next year, nor will it be paid out if the employee
leaves
the Postal Service. As long as the
employee still has Form 5980, Treatment Verification for Wounded Wara combined
disability rating of 30 percent or more, Warriors Leave, which must be
submitted within 15 days he or she will receive 104 hours of Wounded Warrior of
the medical treatment. leave at the start of each new leave year. This category
of leave is a very important benefit to
.Prior
to requesting to use Wounded Warriors leave, letter carriers who also are
veterans with a disability the employee must notify the Postal Service of his
or rated at 30 percent or greater. Copies of the Postal Service eligibility.
Employees must provide documents- vice Management Instruction EL-510-2019-2
(M-01901 tion to the HR Shared Service Center from the Depart- in NALC’s Materials
Reference System) setting forth the requirement of Veterans Affairs certifying
that the employee policy guidelines and standard procedures for admin has the
requisite level of service-connected disability. Listing Wounded Warriors leave
and PS Form 5980 are An employee’s supervisor is responsible for approval-
available on the “Contract Administration” and “City ing or disapproving
requests for Wounded Warriors Delivery” pages of the NALC website. For more
detailed leave by signing PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification on
Wounded Warriors leave and paid milification of Absence, and returning a copy
to the Military leave, read the NALC
Veterans Guide previously employee. In addition, to verify that Wounded
Warriors referred to in this article. The NALC
Veterans Guide is leave requested by an employee is appropriately used
available in electronic format on the NALC website at for the treatment of a
service-connected disability, nalc.org/veterans.
the requesting employee must provide
proof from the
health care provider that the employee
used the leave.
For questions related to these or any other types to receive treatment for a covered disability. USPS has of leave, city carriers should contact their local shop created a form to be used for this verification: a PS steward or branch officer.
https://www.nalc.org/news/the-postal-record/2021/august-2021/document/CT.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment