2017 Penalty Overtime Exclusion Period

(This excerpt is from an article first reported on the National Website Web News Article #: 98-2017 on 10/13/2017.)

Reminder, in accordance with Article 8, sections 4 and 5, of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, penalty overtime rules are not applicable for a consecutive four-week period each year during December.

This year, the December period begins December 2, 2017 (Pay Period 25-17- Week 2) and ends December 29, 2017 (Pay Period 01-18 – Week 1).

Single-Drawer Accountability 6-Hour Offices

Your Local Director of Associate Offices, Mike Wright, has found some answers to questions about this subject.

National Assistant Director, Clerk Craft, Lamont Brooks, has this to say:

“Based on the attached agreement on “Postmasters Supervisors Not Permitted to Work in RMPOs” and the attached the “SDA 6 Hour Offices Job Aids dated 6/18/15 , the APWU clerk craft,  will not be challenging the Single Drawer Accountability revision in the F-101 Handbook.

Since there will be no individual accountability on the clerk and the individual money orders are controlled, this would allow for easier movement of APWU bargaining unit employees between offices to gain additional hours.

There would be no need for the time consuming issuance of credits.”

Below is some supporting literature on the subject.

Revision of Handbook F-101 Cash Management in an e1412 Office Postmasters & Supervisors Not Permitted to Work
Job Aides e1412 SDA RMPO (R2and R4) Ordering, Receiving and Returning Stamp Stock and Money Orders SDA Closeout Checklist

USPS ‘Shirks Responsibility’ to PSEs

(This article first appeared in the Sept-Oct 2017 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

By Health Plan Director John Marcotte 

The APWU Health Plan receives complaints from members who were converted from Postal Support Employee (PSE) to career status and claim the USPS cancelled their health insurance without notification. My office deals with this situation as best as we can, but this is an issue that is the employer’s full responsibility.

The situation is unique for PSEs who have the USPS PSE health insurance, which is not part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit (FEHB) system. Upon conversion to career status, these employees are eligible for 60 days to sign up for FEHB health insurance plans. At the same time, the USPS determines that these employees are ineligible for their USPS PSE insurance and cancels their insurance.

My office is getting complaints from across the country that the USPS is not informing these new career conversions of their ability to sign up for FEHB health plans – and more importantly – that they are losing their USPS PSE coverage. Members are first becoming aware that they have no coverage while receiving medical care, being told they are uninsured!

This problem not only causes a gap in coverage between the date when the USPS plan was dropped and the start of their new FEHB insurance, but also means that if these unsuspecting members exceed the 60 days to sign up for career health insurance, they cannot sign up until the next open season or a “qualifying life event” – making their families uninsured that whole time.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requires that the USPS give 61-day notice when cancelling health insurance. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires 30-day notice when health insurance is being cancelled. The USPS shirking its responsibility to notify APWU members that their health care is getting cancelled is inexcusable.

Consider the APWU CDO

I want you all to be aware of this gross injustice so we can educate our brothers and sisters who are being converted. This situation will not happen to any PSE who has the APWU Consumer Driven Option (CDO) because it is a FEHB health plan. The only change these new careers will notice is a drop in premiums when they attain career status – with NO gap in coverage.

While the APWU CDO provides superior health care coverage at a lower cost to our PSE families, this situation is yet another reason to ensure all PSEs who have been reappointed after a year learn about the advantages of signing up for the APWU CDO. PSEsare eligible for the APWU CDO upon reappointment after a 360-day appointment, with a break in service of no longer than five days. After they are eligible and if the 60-day window elapses for PSEs to sign up for the APWU CDO, they can still sign up after any qualifying life event or during the next open season after reappointment.