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Voluntary Early Retirement:
Court Date Set; Status of Many Eligible Members Clarified

Burrus Update #21-03, Oct. 10, 2003

Discussions have been held between the APWU and USPS at the national level regarding the implementation of the voluntary early retirement agreement. The dispute over management's failure to offer voluntary early retirement to all eligible APWU-represented employees continues and the union's right to arbitrate that dispute is scheduled for a hearing in federal district court on Oct. 23.

However, the parties have clarified some issues affecting employees who received a letter titled "Voluntary Early Retirement Offer." The long and apparently contradictory letters have left many employees who received them unclear about the status of their VER applications.

The union posed a series of questions to management regarding the notices the USPS sent to such employees and the Postal Service has replied.

The APWU raised the following questions:

1. In those cases where management limited the number of eligible employees who could retire on Oct. 31, 2003, would employees who met all the eligibility requirements and received a VER Offer letter be permitted to retire on a subsequent date?

Management's response says that all employees who have been provided a letter titled "Voluntary Early Retirement Offer" will be permitted to retire early, with some employees given an effective date of Oct. 31, and the remaining employees given an effective date early next year. Management's letter to the union says, "All remaining eligible employees who received a VER Offer letter will be provided with another opportunity for VER on either Jan. 31, 2004, or Feb. 29, 2004."

2. Many of the VER Offer letters were not commitments that the employees' requests for early retirement were approved, yet the deadline for them to withdraw their application was set for Oct. 27. Will employees be provided with an appropriate date to revoke their decision, i.e. after an effective date for their retirement has been determined?

Management's response says that "Each of these eligible employees will be provided with an updated annuity estimate and a new irrevocability date. This information will be sent to these employees in mid-December."

3. Some employees will meet the eligibility requirements for early retirement after the Oct. 31 cut-off but before the subsequent effective dates in January and February. When will those employees be identified as eligible?

Management's response says: "Employees who meet the eligibility requirements after Oct. 31, 2003, will be provided an opportunity to apply for VER in a subsequent round of VER offerings which will be announced sometime after the Feb. 29, 2004, date." Employees who do not meet the age and years of service criteria until after Oct. 31, but before the Jan. 31, and Feb. 29, 2004, dates will be identified and notified of early retirement opportunities.

4. Will there be additional opportunities for early retirement after Feb. 29, 2004?

Management's response indicates that there will be additional opportunities. As noted in #3 above, a subsequent round of VER offerings will be announced after Feb. 29, 2004.

5. When the number of eligible employees who wish to retire early exceeds the number management will permit to retire on a specific date, what criteria will management use to select the employees who will be permitted to retire on each date?

Management's response says, "If the number of requests for VER exceeds the limit for a particular installation, then VER will be granted to those eligible employees with the earliest retirement computation dates, up to the limit set for that installation. The additional eligible employees will be permitted to retire on either Jan. 31, 2004, or Feb. 29, 2004."

In the VER Offer letters to employees, management wrote that employees' effective date for retirement would be Oct. 31, 2003, "provided that the allowable number" has not been exceeded for the facility. Management's response to #5 above acknowledges that the VER Offer letter should have used the term "installation" rather than "facility."

William Burrus
President

Oct. 9, 2003 letter from USPS PDF

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