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Awards and Settlements

Award on Inspection of Vehicles in Non-Public Areas of Postal Property [pdf]

(09/11/2007) Arbitrator Linda Byars denied the APWU's grievance challenging the Postal Service's regulations and implementing instructions for the administrative inspection of vehicles entering non-public areas of postal property. Specifically, she found that the regulations and the implementing instructions do not violate the National Agreement (Article 20, Parking) which "recognizes the Postal Service's responsibility and right to 'take reasonable steps, based on the specific needs of the individual location, to safeguard employee security.'"

Settlement Rescinds EEO Complaint Processing Handbook [pdf]

(06/08/07) The APWU and the Postal Service agreed recently in a pre-arbitration settlement that management shall rescind the EEO Complaint Processing Handbook (EL-603). This case involved an Article 19 dispute over the handbook that contained the procedures for providing pre-complaint counseling and processing Equal Employment Opportunity complaints. The APWU’s position was that various provisions in the handbook conflicted with EEO regulations.

Settlement on Severance Pay and Early Retirement [pdf]

(06/06/07) This is a pre-arbitration settlement over whether employees are entitled to severance pay when they elect early retirement in accordance with Article 6, Section B. 4 of the National Agreement. The settlement sustains the APWU’s position and provides that, in the event employees elect to terminate their employment before implementation of reassignment under Article 6 or, if necessary, layoff and reduction in force of excess employees within an installation, they are entitled to severance pay in addition to early retirement benefits, if eligible, in accordance with Section 8336(d)(2) of Title 5, U.S. Code.

Settlement on Contract Postal Unit Dispute [pdf]

(05/18/07) The issue in this case concerned whether it is a violation of the National Agreement for the Postal Service to give a contract for a "Contract Postal Unit (CPU)" to a contractor who doesn’t own the property or facility where the CPU is being established. In the pre-arbitration settlement, the Postal Service agreed that it will comply with the requirements of Handbook AS-707F, which defines a CPU as “a contractor-owned and operated facility, under contract to the Postal Service and under the jurisdiction of an administrative Post Office.”

Award on Terminations Due to Hiring Errors [pdf]

(02/09/07) A national arbitration award by Arbitrator Das regarding terminations initiated because of administrative errors in the hiring process discovered after the employees’ probationary periods ended. Das concluded that ELM 365.311 applies to the separations at issue. He ruled that a “removal under ELM 365.311 must be ‘for cause.’ If it is disciplinary in nature, it is subject to the ‘just cause’ standard in Article 16. But even if non-disciplinary, the Postal Service must carry the burden of establishing ‘cause’ to remove an employee who has completed the probationary period.”

Award on Closing of Medical Units [pdf]

(02/09/07) Arbitrator Linda Byars denied the APWU’s grievance over the Postal Service’s closing of medical/health units in postal facilities. Arbitrator Byars found that there was no showing by the union that closing medical/health units violated the “terms and of the Agreement.” “To the contrary,” she concluded, “the contractual language of Article 14, as well as the bargaining history, shows that the Parties bargained with respect to the obligations under Article 14, and the Postal Service retained the discretion to decide the source of health services.”

Supplemental Award on Remedy in Sunday Premium Case [pdf]

(01/12/07) In this award, Arbitrator Das denied the APWU's position that his Sunday Premium Award (see Union Wins Another Sunday Premium Case below) should be applied retroactively to all employees on a nationwide basis. He concluded that “the holding in the Sunday Premium Award applies prospectively to all bargaining unit employees, but that only those employees who had filed a timely grievance (or on whose behalf such a timely grievance had been filed by a local union) are eligible for retroactive payment.”

Union Wins Debt Collection Act Case [pdf]

(12/09/06) In a recent national-level award, Arbitrator Linda Byars ruled that the ELM 460 provision allowing for collection of postal debts by the Postal Service in increments greater than 15% of an employee’s disposable pay or 20% of the employee’s biweekly gross pay per pay period (whichever is lower) violates the Memorandum of Understanding on debt collection and Article 28.4.B of the National Agreement.

Arbitrator Sustains MS-47 Challenge [pdf]

(12/09/06) In another recent national-level award, Arbitrator Shyam Das sustained the union's challenge to management's revisions to the custodial staffing handbook (MS-47) and ordered the Postal Service to rescind the 2001 MS-47 Handbook, reinstate the previous (1983) MS-47 Handbook, and reinstate or prepare staffing packages as soon as practicable.

National Award on Attendance Control Supervisors Issuing Discipline [pdf]

(07/18/06) The issue in this case (#Q98C-4Q-C 01059241) was whether management’s use of attendance control supervisors to issue discipline for attendance-related offenses violates the National Agreement. Arbitrator Das ruled that “the Unions [APWU and NPMHU] have not established that issuance of discipline by attendance control supervisors is precluded by Article 16.8 or other sections of the National Agreement, provided such an exercise of management authority is administered consistent with other applicable provisions, as discussed in this opinion.”

Award on Obligation to Notify APWU of Withdrawal of CFR Revision [pdf]

(07/04/06) Arbitrator Linda Byars sustained the union's position that in order to make moot the union's appeal to arbitration of a proposed revision to a regulation which the Postal Service does not intend to implement, the Service is required to notify the APWU that it is withdrawing the proposed revision.

Proposed Revisions to F-1, Section 473.12, Rescinded [pdf]

(06/22/06) This settlement (case #Q94C4QC96092498) rescinds a proposed revision to Handbook F-1 (Accounting Procedures) Section 473.12 which would have provided that "Employees cannot grieve or request a hearing for salary or travel advances."

Draft Staffing and Grade Criteria Handbook Settlement [pdf]

(06/22/06) This settlement (case # Q00C4QC05027011) provides that the draft Staffing and Grade Criteria Handbook is not a handbook, manual or published regulation with the force and effect pursuant to Article 19. As a result, this handbook cannot be considered an authority on which management can rely in interpreting and enforcing the national agreement.

Intermediate Travel for Training Settlement [pdf]

(02/02/06) This settlement (case #H0C-NAC 19002) reinstates the language of Section 716.123 of the ELM that existed prior to 1991, which permits intermediate travel (for employees on an extended duty assignment) to a location other than the employee's permanent duty station when authorized in advance by the employee's management.

Award on Applicability of TCOLA to Promotion Pay Anomaly Payments [pdf]

(01/27/06) This is an NALC case in which the APWU intervened. The issue was whether the Postal Service's failure to pay Territorial COLA (TCOLA) as part of the promotion pay anomaly payments due under the June 13, 1990 Memorandum of Settlement of case number H7C-NAC-39 was a violation of that settlement. Arbitrator Das ruled that ongoing anomaly or ABC lump-sum payments made in accordance with that agreement include TCOLA. Please note that the APWU and the Postal Service agreed to changes in the National Agreement in 1999 that eliminated the pay anomaly for APWU bargaining unit employees.

Decision in Maintenance Management Order (MMO) Dispute [pdf]

(09/30/05) Arbitrator Das sustained in part, denied in part and remanded in part the APWU's grievances challenging three Maintenance Management Orders (MMOs) regarding preventive maintenance guidelines for the Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS), Multi-Position Flat Sorting Machine (MPFSM), and the Identification Code Sort (ICS).

Arbitrator Rules Union Leave Does Not Count Toward FMLA Eligibility [pdf]

(07/05/05) An employee's time on LWOP for union business does not count toward the 1,250 hours of service required for eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), according to this national-level award by Arbitrator Das.

Union Wins Another Sunday Premium Case [pdf]

(05/03/05) In another significant win for the union, an arbitrator has ruled that the Postal Service must grant Sunday premium pay to employees who work on Sunday, even if the work is the result of an employee's request for a temporary change of schedule for their own personal convenience.

Union Wins Major Attendance Case [pdf]

In an award issued Jan. 28, 2005, Arbitrator Shyam Das sustained the APWU's arguments on two of three outstanding issues in a significant attendance case. Arbitrator Das said that the Postal Service may not require an employee to describe the nature of an illness or injury during a phone call to report an absence from work. He also ruled that the USPS policy on second and third medical opinions is inconsistent with the Family & Medical Leave Act and the National Agreement.

The arbitrator found that management is not in violation of the FMLA, however, when it requires medical evidence for absences of more than three days in instances in which an employee makes a request to substitute paid sick leave for unpaid intermittent FMLA leave.

Conditions Under Which Grievances are Held in Abeyance Pending a National Dispute [pdf]

This settlement clarifies the procedures to be followed when one or the other party at the national level determines that a regional grievance is the same as, or similar to, a pending national dispute.

Article 1.6.B Merit Award [pdf]

A national-level award by Arbitrator Das on the
issue of "whether consistent with the exception in Article 1.6.B of the National Agreement ... a supervisor at a small post office, whose position description includes the performance of bargaining unit duties, may continue to perform those duties historically performed by a supervisor at that office on a daily, regular or routine basis, where there has been no shift or transfer of work or change in the amount of such duties performed
by the supervisor.”

BQnet Settlement [pdf]

This settlement concerns the Postal Service’s creation of an electronic database to replace the Handbook EL-303, “Qualification Standards – Bargaining Unit Positions.” The electronic database is called BQnet. The settlement requires the Postal Service to provide the union with a current electronic copy of BQnet twice a year for uploading to an APWU web server.

Sunday Premium Settlement [pdf]

A pre-arbitration settlement (USPS #Q98C-4Q-C 00165413 and Q98C-4Q-C 00152463) reversing changes to the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) that eliminated the payment of Sunday premium for hours not actually worked, including payment of Sunday premium to employees in a continuation of pay (COP) status, or on court or military leave. This document includes a copy of the Postal Service’s internal instructions to its field managers for action that must be taken at the district level to identify employees entitled to Sunday premium pursuant to the settlement.

Award on Driver Instructor-Examiner (DIE) Qualification Standard [pdf]

A national level award sustaining the APWU’s challenge to 1994 changes in the Driver Instructor and Examiner (DIE) Qualification Standard. (USPS #Q90V-4Q-C 95004852; 4/13/2004)

Resource Management Database (RMD) Settlement [pdf]

A pre-arbitration settlement (USPS #Q98C-4Q-C 01005505) concerning the Postal Service’s Resource Management Database (RMD) and its web-based enterprise Resource Management System (eRMS). This settlement resolves many of the issues related to RMD/eRMS, including Privacy Act issues, multiple call-in requirements, medical documentation to protect the interests of the Postal Service, and fixed numbers for triggering discipline. The remaining unresolved issues, specifically: management’s right to request the nature of the illness when an employee calls in, FMLA second/third opinion procedures, and medical documentation requirements to substitute paid leave for unpaid intermittent FMLA leave have been appealed to national arbitration.

Award on Use of “Kelly Girls” [pdf]

A national-level award by Arbitrator Das on the Postal Service’s use of temporary agency employees. The arbitrator ruled that Article 7.1 .B does not prohibit the Postal Service from using “Kelly Girls” or other similar-type temporary agency employees as a supplemental work force, provided they are counted as casuals and are subject to the limits on employment of casuals set forth in Article 7.1 .B. (USPS #Q90C-6E-C 94046800; 1/31/2003)

NRLCA Award on Review and Concurrence [pdf]

A National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) award in which the arbitrator found that Article 16.6 of the USPS-NRLCA National Agreement, which is not materially different from Article 16.8 of the USPS-APWU National Agreement, is violated “if there is a ‘command decision’ from higher authority to impose a suspension or discharge”; “if there is a joint decision by the initiating and reviewing officials to impose a suspension or discharge”; or “if there is a failure of either the initiating or reviewing official to make an independent substantive review of the evidence prior to the imposition of a suspension or discharge.” The arbitrator ruled that these violations are “fatal” and “invalidate the disciplinary action and require a remedy of reinstatement with ‘make-whole’ damages.”

Award on USPS Use of Casuals in Lieu of Career Employees [pdf]

An award by Arbitrator Shyam Das sustaining the APWU’s grievance over the Postal Service’s improper use of casuals in lieu of career employees. (AIRS #36175 - USPS #Q98C-4Q-C 00100499: 8/29/01). The arbitrator ruled that the Postal Service may only employ (hire) casual employees to be utilized as a limited term supplemental work force and not in lieu of (instead of, in place of, or in substitution of) career employees.

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