Phoenix Metro Area Local

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. PSE overtime is covered under a special agreement between APWU and USPS Management dated 06/13/18. Click here to read.

2. Can a part-time regular employee be assigned a regular schedule consisting of eight hours in a day and forty hours in a week? Response: No, part-time regular employees are assigned a regular schedule consisting of less than eight hours in a day and less than forty hours a week.

3. Can the hours of part-time regular employees be expanded on a temporary or day-to- day basis? Response: Part-time regular hours may be temporarily expanded beyond their fixed schedules only in emergency or unanticipated circumstances.

4. Does the reference to scheduling "part-time" employees in Article 8.3, paragraph 2 apply to both part-time regulars and part-time flexible employees? Response: The reference to scheduling "part-time" employees "in accordance with the above rules" applies only to part-time regular employees.

5. Are part-time regular employees entitled to out-of-schedule premium for work performed outside their established schedule? Response: Part-time regular employees are assigned to regular schedules, with specific hours of duty, consisting of less than eight hours in a service day and less than forty hours in a service week. Regardless of the hours of their regular schedule, they do not earn overtime until they work more than eight hours in a day or more than forty hours in a week and they are not entitled to out-of-schedule premium. Such employees should normally work the number of weekly hours identified on their PS Form 50.

6. Are employees in NTFT duty assignments entitled to out-of-schedule premium for work performed outside their established schedule? Response: Employees in NTFT duty assignments will normally work the number of hours (daily and/or weekly) identified in their bid assignment, except in an emergency. These employees are entitled to out-of-schedule premium for hours worked outside their normal schedule.

7. Are Postal Support Employees (PSEs) entitled to Postal Overtime? Response: No. Postal Support Employees (PSEs) are paid FLSA overtime for work performed beyond forty hours in a service week.

8. What is included in "paid hours" when calculating postal overtime eligibility?   Response: Paid work hours and paid leave hours.

9. Is "out-of-schedule premium" considered "overtime"?   Response: No. It is a premium paid to eligible full time regular employees, at 50% of the employee's basic hourly rate, for time worked outside of, and instead of, their regular schedule, when working on a temporary schedule at the request of management.

10. Does the overtime desired list apply to part-time regular or part-time flexible employees?   Response: The overtime desired list applies only to full-time employees.

11. May a full-time employee on limited or light duty be scheduled to work overtime?   Response: Whether a full time limited or light duty employee should be scheduled for overtime is dependent upon whether or not the employee's medical limitations would allow the employee to perform the needed duties.

12. Is management required to assign overtime to overtime desired list employees before utilizing a Postal Support Employee (PSE) in excess of eight work hours in a service day? Response: Qualified and available full-time employees on the appropriate overtime desired list will be selected to perform such work.

13. Is an employee who has been on military leave permitted to sign the overtime desired list after the start of the calendar quarter?   Response: Yes, if the employee was on military leave at the time employees placed their names on the overtime desired list, the employee may place his/her name on the list immediately upon return from military leave.

14. Is the overtime desired list used for holiday scheduling?   Response: The overtime desired list is not used when preparing the prescribed holiday schedule posting for holiday coverage. If the need for additional full time coverage is determined after the holiday schedule is posted, then recourse to the overtime desired list would be appropriate.

15. May management unilaterally remove an employee’s name from the overtime desired list if the employee refuses to work assigned overtime?   Response: No, however, employees on the overtime desired list are required to work overtime unless excused pursuant to Article 8.5.E.

16. Must all employees on the overtime desired list be utilized twelve hours per day before an employee not on the list works any overtime?   Response: Except when there is an operational window that cannot be met unless non-list employees are worked. At such time, list and non-list employees may be scheduled simultaneously. NOTE: Non-list employees, in offices utilizing NTFT duty assignments in the same Functional area, cannot work overtime except in an emergency.

17. After a full time employee reaches twenty hours of overtime within a service week is he/she still available for overtime?   Response: Once the employee reaches twenty hours of overtime within a service week, the employee is no longer available for any additional overtime work.

18. Does paid leave count toward the twelve and sixty work limits?   Response: Yes.

19. Is an employee sent home in the middle of the tour on a regularly scheduled day, because of the bar against employees working more than sixty hours in a service week, entitled to be paid for the remainder of his/her scheduled day?   Response: An employee having been sent home on his/her regularly scheduled day before the end of his/her tour due to the 60 hour ceiling and having experienced no temporary change of schedule, must be compensated for the hours he/she lost that day.

20. If a part-time flexible employee is converted to full-time regular status in the middle of a quarter, as defined in Article 8, Section 5.A, may the employee sign the overtime desired list? Response: No, unless otherwise provided for in the Local Memorandum of Understanding.

21. Does "Holiday Worked Pay" count towards the fifty-six and sixty hour work limits?   Response: "Holiday Worked Pay" is a premium paid to eligible employees for hours worked on a holiday. However, since employees are given credit for paid leave on a holiday, the "Holiday Leave" time would count toward the fifty-six and sixty hour limits.

22. Can an employee work fewer hours than the contractual guarantees provided for in Article 8.8?   Response: Management may not solicit employees to work less than their scheduling guarantee, nor may employees be scheduled to work if they are not available to work the entire guarantee. However, an employee may waive a guarantee in case of personal illness or emergency.

23. Does the number of overtime hours an employee is requested to work at the end of a regularly scheduled day become a guarantee?   Response: No, employees only work overtime for the period of time they are needed.

24. When an employee is called in to work overtime on their non-scheduled day, is the employee contractually guaranteed to work his/her bid position?   Response: No, such an employee only has a work hour guarantee.

25. When do part-time flexible employee and PSE guarantees take effect?   Response: When the employee reports to work as scheduled. No guarantee applies when the part-time flexible employee or PSE is notified prior to reporting to work that the previously scheduled work day is canceled.

26. Can a part-time flexible employee be returned to work on the same day without incurring another guarantee period?   Response: When a part-time flexible employee is notified prior to clocking out that the employee should return within two hours, this will be considered a split shift and no new guarantee applies. However, when a part-time flexible employee, prior to clocking out, is told to return after two hours, that employee must be given another minimum guarantee of two hours work or pay. All part-time flexible employees who complete their assignment, clock out and leave the premises regardless of the interval between shifts, are guaranteed four hours of work or pay if called back to work. This guarantee is applicable to any size office.

27. What is the remedy if an employee on the overtime desired list is improperly bypassed?   Response: If the overtime desired list employee is improperly bypassed and another employee on the overtime desired list is selected out of rotation, the bypassed employee is provided a similar make-up opportunity within ninety days of when the error is discovered; if no similar make-up opportunity is available within that ninety days, the employee is compensated at the overtime rate for a period equal to the opportunity missed. If the overtime desired list employee is improperly bypassed for another employee not on the overtime desired list, the bypassed employee will be paid at the overtime rate for the number of hours equal to the opportunity missed. When a question arises as to the proper administration on the “overtime desired” list at the local level, a steward may have access to appropriate overtime records.

28. Can full-time career Clerk Craft and Motor Vehicle Craft employees, who are not on the Overtime Desired List and are in an installation with employees working in NTFT duty assignments in the same functional area, be required to work overtime?   Response: No. The only exception is in an emergency. However, in the MVS Craft, employees may also be required to work overtime in the event of unforeseeable circumstances (e.g., PVS drivers stuck in traffic, weather conditions).

29. Are full-time employees in NTFT duty assignments subject to Article 8.5, OTDL, or LMOU scheduling rules?   Response: No. Overtime built into a NTFT duty assignment (exceeding 40 hours in a week) is FLSA overtime, not Postal Overtime, and therefore, is not subject to Article 8.5, OTDL, and LMOU scheduling rules. The only exception to requiring employees in NTFT duty assignments to work overtime will be that Holiday scheduling is accomplished under Article 11 and the LMOU pecking order.

30. Can employees in NTFT duty assignments sign the Overtime Desired List(s)?   Response: Yes, however, on days when the regular NTFT duty assignment schedule is less than 8 hours, these employees would be considered unavailable for overtime.

31. Could employees in NTFT duty assignments, who sign the OTDL, and have a daily schedule of less than 8 hours, work the hours up to 8 at the out-of-schedule (OOS) premium, and then be available for overtime?   Response: No. Employees in NTFT duty assignments will normally work the number of hours (daily and/or weekly) identified in their bid assignment, except in an emergency.

32. Are employees in NTFT duty assignments that have daily schedules longer than 8 hours paid overtime for hours in excess of 8? Response: No. These employees would only receive overtime when they exceed their normal schedule for that day.

33. Are employees in NTFT duty assignments that have weekly schedules in excess of 40 hours paid overtime?   Response: Not Postal Overtime. Employees with normal schedules in excess of forty (40) hours per week will receive postal overtime when in a pay status for more than the normal weekly schedule hours. However, these employees will receive FLSA overtime when their actual weekly work hours exceed 40.

34. When would a full-time employee in a NTFT duty assignment be entitled to penalty overtime?   Response: These employees will receive penalty overtime as follows

• For daily schedules of 10 or less hours, penalty overtime is paid for hours over 10 in a pay status;

• For daily schedules exceeding 10 hours, penalty overtime is not paid until hours in a pay status exceed the scheduled hours;

• For the first non-scheduled day an employee works in a service week, penalty overtime is paid for time in a pay status exceeding 8 hours;

• Should an employee work a second, third, or fourth non-scheduled day in a service week, penalty overtime is paid for those hours in a pay status;

• After an employee has worked overtime on 4 days in a service week, penalty overtime will be paid for any subsequent hours exceeding the daily or weekly scheduled hours.

35. Are employees in NTFT duty assignments subject to the 10, 12, 56, and 60 hour limitations?   Response: Yes. (Exception: employees whose normal daily schedule exceeded 10 hours would be exempt from the 10 hour limitation for that day.)

36. Normally the employee in a NTFT duty assignment should not work more than the number of hours (daily and/or weekly) identified in their bid assignment, except in an emergency. What is considered to be an emergency?   Response: Article 3.F provides the parties’ mutual understanding of what constitutes an emergency situation: an unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature.

37. If, on a particular day, two hours of additional work is necessary, who should be scheduled when the 2 clerks available within the section are: a) qualified non-OTDL NTFT employee (five - 6 hour days ending tour at 3:00 PM) for 2 hours of out-of-schedule premium; or b) qualified OTDL traditional schedule FTR ending tour at 3:00 PM for 2 hours of overtime?   Response: b) qualified OTDL traditional schedule FTR ending tour at 3:00 PM for 2 hours of overtime. Absent an emergency, a non-OTDL NTFT employee should not be worked beyond their normal daily schedule.

38. Are clerks occupying NTFT duty assignments guaranteed the number of hours in their bid duty assignment?   Response: Yes. The clerk’s bid NTFT duty assignment establishes their minimum daily and weekly guarantees.

39. When an employee in a NTFT duty assignment is routinely scheduled to work additional hours (compensated at the out-of-schedule rate) each week, must the assignment be reposted?   Response: Employees in NTFT duty assignments will normally work the number of hours (daily and/or weekly) identified in their bid assignment, except in an emergency.

40. Can a Clerk or MVS Craft employee, in a NTFT duty assignment, who is not on the OTDL, be required to work one or more of their scheduled off days?   Response: Effective six months from the signing date of the 2010 CBA (November 23, 2011), full-time career Clerk Craft and Motor Vehicle Craft employees who are not on the Overtime Desired List and are in an installation with employees working in NTFT duty assignments in the same functional area, will not be required to work overtime except in an emergency. Article 3.F provides the parties’ mutual understanding of what constitutes an emergency situation: an unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature. In the Motor Vehicle Craft, employees may also be required to work overtime in the event of unforeseeable circumstances (e.g., PVS drivers stuck in traffic, weather conditions).

41. May OTDL employees in NTFT duty assignments be required to work more than 8 hours on any non-scheduled day?   Response: Yes. They are subject to the normal overtime rules in Article 8 and the LMOU (including penalty overtime).

42. Employees in NTFT duty assignments will normally work the number of hours (daily and/or weekly) identified in their bid assignment, except in an emergency and are entitled to out-of-schedule premium for hours worked outside of their bid schedule. Would an employee in a NTFT duty assignment receive out-of schedule premium if required to assume a traditional full-time schedule for one or more days in order to participate in recognized training?   Response: No. Training is one of the recognized exceptions to the out-of schedule premium requirement. An employee in a NTFT duty assignment, for example, who must attend window training after bidding a SSA duty assignment, would not be eligible for out-of-schedule premium when assigned to a traditional schedule to accommodate the training.