Union Wins Arbitration
On Annual-Leave Exchange for PTFs

Burrus Update #15-08, Dec. 2, 2008

The union has prevailed in a national-level grievance protesting management’s decision to exclude part-time flexibles (PTFs) from the negotiated Annual Leave Exchange program. In a decision dated Nov. 30 [PDF], Arbitrator Linda Byars ruled that the program applies to all APWU-represented career employees.

The dispute arose following negotiations for the 1998-2000 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which resulted in an agreement that eligible APWU-represented employees would have the right to sell back up to 40 hours of unused annual leave prior to the beginning of each leave year. 

The eligibility criteria are spelled out in the agreement, which has been retained in each successive contract:

The employee must be at the maximum leave carryover ceiling at the start of the leave year, and the employee must have used fewer than 75 sick leave hours in the leave year immediately preceding the year for which the leave is being exchanged.

Postal management interpreted the agreement as excluding PTF employees, so the union initiated a national-level grievance. (Because the 1998-2000 Collective Bargaining Agreement was ratified by APWU members in 1999 and employees could not take advantage of the Annual Leave Exchange Option in the first year of the contract, for the 2000 leave year, eligible employees were permitted to sell back up to 80 hours of annual leave.)

Arbitrator Byars remanded the remedy for the violation to the parties as the union requested, and retained jurisdiction to determine the appropriate remedy if necessary. Discussions at the national level will be needed to identify employees that met the eligibility criteria and may be entitled to monetary relief.

Any APWU-represented employee who was a Part-Time Flexible during any or all of the period of the dispute (from 1999 to 2008) and had an annual leave balance of 440 hours or more at the end of the leave year should forward an e-mail to ptabbita@apwu.org indicating that you believe you may qualify for relief. Please provide your name, Employee I.D. number, phone number, and the office where you were employed at the end of the leave year in which you were eligible.

William Burrus
President

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