June 2003

Substitute article by Jerry Pyfer

Editor NALC Branch 245

What can be more annoying than using the restroom and finding an empty toilet paper dispenser?

Dealing with the hassles when you need to use Sick Leave!!!!

Sick Leave is one of our earned benefits gained through the efforts of the NALC. Sick Leave is also a benefit over which you can receive discipline.

April 5th, Rockford Postal employees who needed to call in sick or needed emergency annual leave began something new. Instead of phoning their unit and talking to their supervisor, they were required to call the toll-free 866-636-5497 number to the Enterprise Resource Management System (ERMS). The system has been expanding nation-wide over the past couple of years.

Letter Carriers of the Park Branch office have reported civil and courteous conversations with the eRMS operators. Employees of other stations and locations have reported several instances of difficulties dealing with the operators. ERMS will now inform management when you must be confronted for failure to maintain a regular schedule. Local managers will have one more puppet string attached.

So, let’s take a look at Sick Leave and offer some useful information so that you can better cope with eRMS and its ramifications.

The National Agreement Article 10 entitles Letter Carriers to Sick Leave. On the other hand, Sick Leave in its simplest form can lead to discipline in the quickest way. When you call in sick for yourself (or a dependent) due to some illness or pain that restricts you from performing your duties, your request is recorded onto a Postal Form 3972 (not to be confused with a PS Form 3971) as “an unscheduled absence”. It doesn’t matter if you used one hour or one day or one week.

The Form 3972 will track your Sick Leave usage to deter mine how much Sick Leave is used; how often Sick Leave is used; and, if any “patterns” are evident.

An employee’s frequency of Sick Leave usage prompts the most common discipline: Failure to Maintain a Regular Schedule.

When you have a cold, the flu — or other common ailments — rest is usually the best medicine. and that’s why we have Sick Leave!  But, on the other hand, the mail must still get delivered and our day off to recuperate makes delivering your route assignment more difficult. Thus, the competing interests create friction. The more friction, the more likely discipline will result.

Use Sick Leave wisely. Use it when you are genuinely sick. Do not use Sick Leave because of crummy weather, or your best friend is in town for the day, or because somebody ticked you off. The pattern of Sick Leave usage can be developed with the Form 3972. By “pattern” we mean repeatedly using a day of Sick Leave on Saturdays; the repeated use of Sick Leave on the day before or the day after your scheduled day off, etc.

Arbitrators have made observations that employees cannot plan when illness can strike... but repeated occurrences will raise doubt in the mind of an arbitrator.

Two Sentences in the ELM

Two sentences in the Employee & Labor Relations Manual (ELM) have created a ton of controversy over its interpretation. Section 5 13.361 reads:

For periods of 3 days or less, supervisors may accept the employee’s statement explaining the absence. Medical documentation or other acceptable evidence of incapacity for work is required only when the employee is on Restricted Sick Leave (see 513.36) or when the supervisor deems documentation desirable for the protection of the interests of the Postal Service.”

The NALC publication "The Activist" cites three general rules that have been established.  First, employees who are absent more than three days must submit “medical documentation or other acceptable evidence” to support their Sick Leave request. Next, a supervisor may accept your word for absences of three days or less unless you are on Restricted Sick Leave., and you will know when you are on Restricted Sick Leave.

Finally, for absences of three days or less, a supervisor may require an employee to submit documentation of an illness “When desirable for the protection of the Postal Service.”

The problem lies in the fact that when supervisors are given discretion to decide your fate, the potential for abuse also exists.

Arbitrators have made numerous rulings over justified and unjustified requests for medical documentation. “When circumstances raised doubts about the genuine nature of the employee’s illness” the request for documentation was justifiable.

On the other side of the coin, “When employees appear obviously sick at the time they requested sick leave", arbitrators have found that any demand for certification is unjustified.” The ERMS pretty much takes care of that situation. When you call ERMS, an unknown person will relay your request for sick leave via computer to the local boss.

When management’s demand for certification is made known, you must comply and acquire the necessary paperwork. The Union will file a grievance to reimburse you for all expenses incurred obtaining the required documentation (travel expenses or mileage, office/doctor fees, etc.) should the request be deemed unjustifiable.

Sick Leave for Dependent Care (SLDC)

SLDC is a relatively new classification of Sick Leave first gained in the 1994 National Agreement. SLDC can be used when you must provide care for an immediate family member:

Son, daughter, parent or spouse.

When a dependent’s medical condition parallels a medical condition that would require you to request Sick Leave, you may request SLDC in order to care for that dependent.

However, SLDC carries an 80 hour limit per leave year... SLDC will be deducted from your Sick Leave balance. SLDC will be recorded onto the Form 3972 by the ERMS and can be combined by management with regular Sick Leave usage to establish excessive Sick Leave usage. However, any discipline must be for “just cause”.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

The Family Medical Leave Act is a 1993 federal law separate from the National Agreement between the USPS and the NALC. Moreover, there are instances where the two benefits can be coordinated to provide joint coverage.

A common misunderstanding is that FMLA is the same as SLDC. Where SLDC is the use of Sick Leave, FMLA only grants the time needed to recover from or treat medical conditions.

FMLA can be Sick Leave for yourself, coinciding SLDC for an immediate family member (limited to 80 hours per year), annual leave or leave without pay (LWOP).

Sick Leave used under the heading of FMLA cannot be cited for disciplinary purposes. FMLA is your Sick Leave "umbrella”, but certain requirements are necessary to ensure the protection provided by the FMLA is in place.

First, you must meet certain eligibility requirements of length of service and hours worked in the previous year. Then, the condition requiring time off to tend to must meet FMLA guidelines.

Normally, FMLA requires pre-scheduling for impending medical needs. However, in the case of emergency, FMLA paperwork may be submitted within fifteen days unless a longer time frame is agreed upon.

FMLA requires documentation from your doctor (or an optional Form WH-380). An NALC version is also acceptable. Then, you must make certain the FMLA information on the Form 3971 is checked off properly. You have only two days after notification that the leave is not considered FMLA to appeal the determination. Two days from when you were notified means exactly that! You have two days from the time you were made aware that the FMLA was denied.

This article courtesy of the Rockford, IL

Branch245 Newsletter published in June 2003.