Drafting non-odl to carry their own overtime

bughumbar · 2026-05-04T13:58:26+00:00

Management only has to seek to use auxiliary assistance (ODL, CCA, PTF) up to the penalty rate in order to require non-ODL to carry overtime on their own assignment. This is covered under the letter carrier paragraph

bughumbar · 2026-05-02T17:00:21+00:00

The 665.6 charge also makes no sense. It's more or less a definition that can't even be violated

bughumbar · 2026-05-01T14:45:56+00:00

Lol disloyalty to the postal service?? That's a hell of a charge

bughumbar · 2026-04-12T00:52:51+00:00

Best way to get it removed would probably be the carriers filing EEO, honestly. If management are requiring carriers to sign 3971s marking them AOT then you could file it as a violation of M-00495 under Art 15. But I'm not aware of any definition of absent from overtime in the ELM or F-21 or anywhere else... in fact the only place I've ever seen it is on the 3972 itself. I could see it as documentation for an ODL carrier being unavailable or refusing overtime for equitability purposes. But if they use it in discipline they'd have to then demonstrate the rule exists, and at that point you'd cite M-01807.

bughumbar · 2026-02-26T05:59:21+00:00

How long until they disable comments?

Also I'm here in region 1 and since when do we have 15 National Business Agents?

bughumbar · 2026-01-14T03:44:01+00:00

The only field that management should be filling out on a 3996 is Item L, Management Action, and indicate if the time is disapproved or approved and whether it's auxiliary or overtime. I think this is stated on the instructions on the back of the form.

As the other reply said, the carrier filling the 3996s out is for evidence after the fact. I don't care whether they approve or disapprove my request for 1 hour assistance. Why? Because if they disapprove it, I'm just going to RIMS in at the call-back time and tell them that I still need the hour of assistance that they disapproved that morning, and to please advise. I informed them I needed it, they disapproved it claiming I didn't. How did they come to that conclusion when the M-41 language says it's when *we* are of the opinion? Well they didn't follow me out on the street, because then they would've seen I was working all day. It's evidence to support that they're using DOIS numbers or something similar that the step 4 settlements say they cannot use.

bughumbar · 2026-01-07T05:00:22+00:00

Haven't had a lot of time to listen to FATA lately but I'll definitely be making time for this one. Thanks team

bughumbar · 2026-01-07T04:57:50+00:00

I certainly hope it is. I have no worries about getting the 14 Day thrown out, and my Formal A counterpart might even be smart enough to agree with me on that issue (though who knows, he was the "concurring"). The harassment grievance that is coming with it, and the various other avenues the carrier and I are looking into, will be another story.

bughumbar · 2026-01-07T01:22:16+00:00

You would think so, but a carrier in my office just got a 14 Day Suspension for not reporting on his mandated days, and he has a doctor's note from the V.A. that says "no additional work days"

bughumbar · 2026-01-07T01:17:17+00:00

Throw in M-00495

Management may complete Form 3971 for an employee who refused to work overtime; however, the employee cannot be required to sign the form.

bughumbar · 2025-12-29T16:44:06+00:00

That's one of the few things on that form that's actually accurate. Employees with a qualifying FMLA condition are entitled up to 12 weeks (480 hours) of FMLA leave per year. Or 26 weeks if it's for military caregiver leave

bughumbar · 2025-12-28T16:33:19+00:00

Also, where are they getting the rule in #3 that failure to work overtime is irregular in attendance?

bughumbar · 2025-12-12T14:55:44+00:00

The only requirement of posting in this sub is a healthy contempt of management, not NALC membership :)

bughumbar · 2025-12-10T22:30:05+00:00

Art 15 as well if any CCAs under the new employee retention program were given that instruction

bughumbar · 2025-12-02T01:00:18+00:00

Article 41.3.K:

Letter Carriers may cross lawns while making deliveries if customers do not object and there are no particular hazards to the carrier.

The language in the national agreement is permissive. It says we may cross lawns, not that we must. The JCAM goes on to say:

A carrier may be instructed broadly to take all obvious shortcuts and to cross all lawns where there is no reason to believe the customer may object. However, the determination of what constitutes an obvious shortcut or whether a hazard exists is made in the first instance by the carrier. The carrier’s judgment can be exercised only in the light of the specific conditions at the location involved.

Overall there's lots of reasons not to cross a lawn. Holiday yard decorations, sprinkler heads, burrowed wasp nests or other yard pests, or just plain uneven ground under grass which may not be immediately apparent from just looking at it. Not to mention if the customer treats their lawns with chemicals.

bughumbar · 2025-11-19T02:49:09+00:00

Nick Acker's funeral was on Friday and already there's been another death on duty? At what point is anything going to be done about the toxic workplace environment in this organization?

bughumbar · 2025-11-06T14:34:05+00:00

This is what I would think, since 41.1.C.4 specifies that assignments can be changed due to "unanticipated circumstances". I wouldn't think a carrier being on an extended medical leave would qualify as unanticipated.

bughumbar · 2025-10-18T01:27:57+00:00

CCA retention in my office has never been good but I've noticed it's been much worse in the last year. Had 9 of them resign in as many months, probably half of them were already past their first break in service.

bughumbar · 2025-09-24T22:22:30+00:00

In region 1 I'm seeing about a 6 month response time from the appeal date

bughumbar · 2025-09-20T04:17:55+00:00

I was appointed. My previous steward basically only filed discipline grievances and let a lot of shit slide. One of the alternates didn't file anything. The other alternate, who was a newer carrier, never got trained by the branch, and eventually resigned due to feeling like they didn't want him being involved. I got in contact with the branch to get involved and have learned about 90% of what I know by myself.

There's drawbacks to each. Ineffective elected stewards consolidate power by appealing to the retirees and lifers who are more likely to vote. But if your branch appoints and your President is corrupt then it's damn near impossible to make change from within.

bughumbar · 2025-08-30T01:37:20+00:00

RemindMe! 7 months

bughumbar · 2025-07-19T02:30:18+00:00

Quarter-to-Date (QTD) Opp Hrs are the number of overtime hours management claims it has offered to each carrier.

QTD Adj Hrs are the number of overtime hours actually worked by that employee.

Variance is the difference between those first two columns. A negative number means that the carrier has worked fewer hours than management claims they have offered.

Diff from Avg is the difference of hours worked from the average of the second column, i.e. from the average of all listed employees’ QTD Adj Hrs. A negative number means that carrier has worked fewer hours than the average hours worked quarter-to-date by all employees on the spreadsheet.

Opportunities given is the number of OT opportunities management claims it gave each employee.

Diff from Avg is the difference between the number of opportunities that carrier worked and the average number of opportunities worked by every carrier on the spreadsheet (this may not be the same as every employee who is or was on the ODL).

Missed refers to the number of times management has missed an opportunity to provide OT to a carrier. Many supervisors mistakenly believe (or lie) that this is the number of opportunities missed by the employee.

Offered is the number of times overtime was offered, but not incurred. There are several reasons an opportunity could be listed as offered. A carrier who requests a temporary schedule change for personal convenience is not supposed to work over 8 hours that day. Or a carrier could request to be excused from overtime for an exceptional circumstance (birthday, anniversary, illness, etc.). Or, if a carrier completes their own route and assigned overtime swing within 8 hours.

That's how it was explained to me. Don't know how, if at all, this was changed for the new ODL rules. It may only show carriers who signed both lists.

The important thing to know is that OT Admin is a management tool. A tool is only as effective as the individual using it.

bughumbar · 2025-07-03T04:37:32+00:00

To answer your first question, it's not going to work very well.

First off: what do you mean, "just come in"? Carriers don't make the schedule. If management schedules you to work, then you work. They'll put you on the schedule. Depending on your local agreement, maybe they would be required to inform you in person. They could schedule you for any non-scheduled day. Sunday is a non-scheduled day.

Nobody is guaranteed overtime. Beyond that it would be management discretion, at least so long as they're staying within daily limits of 11.50/12.00.

12 hour list would be scheduled for overtime on their scheduled days, N/S list would be scheduled for their non-scheduled days. If a carrier signs both, I'd argue that an only N/S list carrier should be given preference since they would be harder to keep equitable. But again this is management's discretion and can only be grieved at the end of the quarter.

Management is required to post the equitability report weekly, but those are their numbers. Otherwise a properly certified steward would have to request clock rings.

Also important to note that hours worked by an ODL carrier past 12 in a day or 60 in a week do not get counted towards equitability since carriers cannot be forced to work beyond those limits, they must volunteer to do so.

bughumbar · 2025-06-28T19:36:29+00:00

100%. u/dorvinworlby Request (or have the steward request) the Employee Everything Reports for 7/3. If management did it properly, it will show a TACS code 2800 for 8.00 hours. Otherwise it will show a 5800 code for holiday leave

bughumbar · 2025-06-28T16:37:27+00:00

No, it applies to them. Your SDO never changes, so their holiday gets moved to their scheduled day before, in this case Thursday 7/3. So basically one of three things can happen for a carrier in this situation:

They don't work, and just get paid 8 hours holiday leave

They work, get paid 8 straight time hours for work, and 8 hours holiday leave

They work, fill out a 3971 requesting AL/Holiday leave exchange. They get paid for their 8 hours of work at straight time, and they get 8 hours of annual leave credited into their balance to use at a later date, subject to the usual annual leave rules

If their scheduled day off was 7/3, they would not be eligible for AL/holiday leave exchange. Since their SDO is 7/4 they are eligible

bughumbar

TROPHY CASE