CORE ISSUE: ARTICLE 8.5.C.2 - OTDL EQUITIBILITY …

1 CORE ISSUE: ARTICLE - OTDL EQUITIBILITY grievance #18-OM-08 DECISION: The Central Plains District Dispute Resolution Step B team has RESOLVED this grievance by determining that management did violate ARTICLE when they failed to equitably distribute overtime to five OTDL Carriers. The Formal Step A s resolved this issue in part by agreeing to make four OTDL carriers whole in the next quarter (Qtr 1, 2008). However, the Formal Step A s were unable to reach a settlement on the five carriers that were to be made whole from Qtr. 3, 2007 to Qtr. 4, 2007. The Formal Step A s will meet to determine whether an hourly overtime payment or a lump sum settlement will be made. The parties will meet as soon as practicable. EXPLANATION: The union contends that management violated ARTICLE when they failed to equitably distribute the overtime hours and opportunities among the five OTDL carriers in Qtr.

2 4, 2007. As per local procedures, OTDL carriers that were not made equitable within the quarter for the first time will have those hours recorded as negative hours the next quarter, thus providing management the opportunity to correct the disparity. However, the five OTDL Carriers were placed in the negative by supervision at the beginning of Qtr. 4 and were not made equitable at the end of Qtr 4. The union argued that even though labor and management met every two weeks to review the OTDL hours, management did not correct the disparity within the next quarter. management contends that Saddle Creek supervision did everything possible to keep the OTDL equal. However, with sick leave, annual leave and days off it is not always easy.

3 management argued that ARTICLE 8 states that the employee must have equitable opportunities, and when looking at opportunities that hours should be considered. The union points out, and the file demonstrated, that management s arguments are on unstable ground. management argued that the OTDL carriers mentioned in this settlement were absent more than the high OTDL carrier. Actually, the high OTDL carrier had the second highest number of absences. management argued that some of the other carriers were unavailable due to them working on their own route. Actually, the high OTDL carrier again worked the second highest number of hours on their own assignment. Only one OTDL carrier was off more and worked more overtime hours on their own route than the highest OTDL carrier.

4 The local parties should take portions of that carrier s unavailability into consideration. The file submitted shows that even though the OTDL carriers listed in this grievance were to begin the quarter in the hole with make-up hours; all but one lost ground and ended the quarter even further behind. The prior overtime quarterly equitability settlements included in the file indicate that when employees are not made equitable the next quarter, as per the JCAM, they are made whole with a monetary award. Page 8-12 of the JCAM reads: Remedies. National Arbitrator Howard Gamser ruled in NC-S-5426, April 3, 1979 (C-3200) that the Postal Service must pay employees deprived of equitable opportunities for the overtime hours they did not work only if managements failure to comply with its contractual obligation sunder ARTICLE shows a willful disregard or defiance of the contractual provision, a deliberate attempt to grant disparate or favorite treatment to an employee or group of employees, or caused a situation in which the equalizing opportunity could not be afforded within the next quarter.

5 In all other cases, Gamser held, the proper remedy is to provide an equalizing opportunity in the next immediate quarter, or pay a compensatory monetary award if this is not management has argued that only opportunities need be taken into consideration when determining overtime equitability for the quarter. On page 8-11 of the JCAM it reads as follows: National Arbitrator Bernstein ruled in H1N-5G-C-2988 (C-06364) that in determining equitable distribution of overtime, the number of hours of overtime as well as the number of opportunities for overtime must be considered. As stated above, the file submitted does not indicate that only opportunities have been taken into consideration when determining overtime equitability in Omaha NE in prior grievance settlements.

6 It must also be repeated that all of the carriers that are the subject of this grievance were to start Quarter 4 in the hole and then be made equal during that quarter. In fact, these same carriers fell even further behind during Quarter 4 and were not made equitable. Therefore, the Step B team agrees that the Formal Step A s will meet again as soon as practicable and determine the number of hours that the five OTDL carriers will be compensated or receive a lump sum payment for each as per NALC Exhibit #2 and NALC Formal A s requested remedy.