USPS Position Letter: Article 8; Hours of Work (1983)

The grievance concerns whether employees may be required to work overtime on their non scheduled days at locations other than the location of their bid assignments. The union alleges a violation of Article 8, Section 5, of the 1981 National Agreement. According to the file, an extremely heavy volume of mail existed on the date of incident. Management decided to work employees in the installation on their non scheduled days in order to reduce the backlogged mail and meet service standards. Employees from all branches and stations of the Hollywood Post Office were instructed to report on their non scheduled day to the Main Office Facility. This is not a regular occurrence and is permissible under the terms of the contract when overtime is required. Further, mileage and travel time, in this case, are not appropriate since the travel was within the local commuting area. Accordingly, as we find no violation of the National Agreement, this grievance is denied.