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Postal
Service Reservists Eligible for Back Pay
(posted 4/2/07)
As many as 100,000 military reservists
who worked at the U.S. Postal Service between 1980 and 2000
could be eligible for thousands of dollars in compensation
because they were improperly charged for their military leave,
under a new ruling. The Merit Systems Protection Board decision
greatly expands the scope of a larger back pay issue that
ultimately could cost the government half a billion dollars,
said Matthew Tully, a New York attorney who is representing
affected employees for free. He said complying with the decision
could cost the Postal Service upwards of $200 million. Tully
said the average back payment has totaled $3,500, although
employees have received anywhere from $400 to $14,000 depending
on how long they were in the reserves and their paygrade.
Postal Employee Challenges USPS Over Military Leave
(posted 3/11/07)
The Merit
Systems Protection Board (MSPB) recently announced a landmark
ruling which will allow thousands of current and former
Postal Employees to file claims and receive compensation for
improperly charged military leave. Military reservists who
worked at the U.S. Postal Service between 1980 and 2000 could
be eligible for thousands of dollars in compensation because
they were improperly charged for their military leave.
Note: The USPS has
taken the position that they will not pay back pay for nonscheduled
days charged to military leave before FY 2002. See
NALC (PDF) In the case of
David Miller, what he won is discovery and a hearing.
Many veterans continue to hope the USPS will do the right
thing voluntarily. ( see
Federally employed
reservists may be due back pay from 1980-1994)
MSPB Case
:
David Miller
vs. U.S. Postal Service (March 7, 2007-PDF)
David Miller, a Postal Service employee, filed an appeal under
the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights
Act (USERRA) alleging that the Postal Service improperly charged
him military leave for his absences on non-workdays. Without
a hearing, the AJ dismissed the appeal for failure to state
a claim because the appellant was a Postal Service employee
and so not covered by the military leave provisions of 5 U.S.C.
§ 6323.
The MSPB agreed that Postal Service employees are excluded
from coverage of section 6323. However, the Postal Service
had a policy in effect at the relevant time that was the equivalent
of section 6323 and the MSPB has jurisdiction to enforce employee
rights derived from agency rules, regulations, and collective
bargaining agreements. Accordingly, taking as true the appellant’s
allegations, he did state a claim upon which relief may be
granted. As the appellant was not permitted to engage in discovery
prior to dismissal of the claim and that he was seeking relevant
evidence from a third party, the Defense Finance and Accounting
Service, the MSPB dismissed the appeal without prejudice to
refiling, with no deadline, since there is no deadline for
filing claims under USERRA.
Federally employed reservists due
back pay from 1980-1994 (3/6/06)
Federal
employees who served in the military reserves may now be eligible
to be compensated for wrongly charged military leave dating
as far back as 1980, because of a recent ruling from the Merit
Systems Protection Board.
Government
workers are given up to 15 paid days of leave a year to spend
in the National Guard or military reserves. But until 2000,
the government was erroneously counting weekends and holidays
in this tally.
Last July,
the MSPB ruled that employees who served in the reserves between
1994 and 2000 were eligible for compensation for mistakenly
charged leave. Last week the board, a quasi-judicial body
that handles federal workplace disputes, issued a ruling pushing
the date back to 1980.
ELM REVISION
Use
of Leave While on Active Duty Military Service
(posted 4/13/06)
Effective April 13, 2006, the Employee
and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) 517.542, Choice of Annual
Leave or LWOP, is revised to clarify the requirements for
the use of sick leave while on active duty military service.
[Revise the title and text of 517.542 to
read as follows:]
517.542 Choice of Annual Leave, Sick Leave,
or LWOP
Eligible employees who volunteer or are
ordered for a period of military training or for a period
of active military duty beyond the general military leave
allowance may use annual leave or LWOP, at their option. Sick
leave can be used only if the employee is hospitalized, confined
to quarters as directed by competent military medical authorities,
or on convalescent leave due to military service.
USPS to Pay Employee Portion of Health Premiums for Workers
Called to Active Duty
APWU Web News
Article #10-05, March 22, 2005
The Postal Service
has announced it will pay the employee’s share – in addition
to the USPS share – of health insurance premiums for up to
24 months for career USPS employees who are called to active
duty. The change was made in response to a request from the
APWU in August 2004.
USPS managers
have been instructed that the new
policy [PDF] took effect March 17, 2005, and is retroactive
to Dec. 28, 2002. It applies to qualified career employees
activated for military service under Executive Order 12302
or 13223 in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle,
and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Postal Service will assume
the full cost of employees’ premiums for the time that they
perform qualifying military service only.
“These changes
are made pursuant to new federal guidance on the extension
of coverage, and are made in our continuing efforts to support
our employees called to active military duty,” the manager
of Labor Relations Policies and Programs wrote to APWU President
William Burrus.
The Office
of Personnel Management (OPM) has determined that employees
who are absent for military service may extend their Federal
Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage and their Federal
Employee Group Life Insurance protection by using paid leave
for eight consecutive pay periods. Employees may use as little
as one hour of paid leave per pay period to meet this requirement.
Employees
who receive invoices for health benefits premiums should wait
to pay them until they return from active duty, the instructions
say. “The amount owed will be based on the documentation of
eligibility presented at that time, and to the extent possible,
will be deducted from pay on a pretax basis, thereby reducing
the out-of-pocket cost.”
President
Burrus praised the Postal Service’s decision to pay health
plan premiums for employees called to active duty. “We applaud
the sensitivity shown by management in supporting the postal
heroes who are serving their country,” he said.
Secretary Chao
Announces New USERRA Notice of Rights and Benefits
Secretary Chao today announced that a
notice in poster format explaining the rights of employees
under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights
Act (USERRA) is now available for employers to download from
the DOL Web site. Read the
news release.
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