Letter Carrier Resource Guide
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CARRIER LETTER 2019 R ESOURCE GUIDE Dear Letter Carrier, Welcome to your job as a letter carrier. We have created this guide to help you understand many of your rights and benefits both as a city carrier assistant (CCA) and career letter carrier. Through collective bargaining, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) has fought for and achieved these rights and benefits over the years. This guide also covers a variety of topics regarding your job as a letter carrier, the history and structure of the NALC, and your importance to the success of our union and the United States Postal Service (USPS). Throughout this guide, you will see many references and quotes from various sources such as the NALC/ USPS National Agreement, memorandums of understanding, and USPS handbooks and manuals. The Na- tional Agreement is the contract between the NALC and the USPS that covers wages, benefits, hours and working conditions for letter carriers. Memorandums of understanding (MOUs) are enforceable, contractually binding settlements under the Na- tional Agreement signed jointly by the NALC and USPS. These documents are identified by name and an “M” followed by a five digit number. This “M” number is a number NALC uses to track documents in what is called the Materials Reference System (MRS), which may be accessed at www.nalc.org/mrs. This guide also contains many references to a jointly-developed document containing Questions-and-An- swers (Q-and-As) regarding the rights and benefits of CCAs. This document, assigned as M-01870 in the MRS, provides the mutual understanding of the national parties on issues related to the USPS/NALC National Agreement. It is separated in two sections: the first concerning city carrier assistants (CCAs) and the second section addresses other contractual provisions. The complete document is provided for you in the appendix to this guide. Also included in this guide’s appendix is Appendix B of the 2016 USPS/NALC National Agree- ment, which outlines the establishment of the city carrier assistant category of letter carriers. USPS also has many handbooks and manuals; some of which affect the wages, hours and working condi- tions of letter carriers. They set the work rules that letter carriers must follow in performance of their duties. The three that are referred to most often are Handbook M-41, City Delivery Carriers Duties and Responsi- bilities; Handbook M-39, Management of Delivery Services; and the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM). The provisions of these USPS handbooks and manuals that directly relate to wages, hours or working conditions are enforceable under the National Agreement. The National Agreement and above listed resources can be found at www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/resourc- es. The appendix section of this guide also contains a list of NALC publications and USPS manuals contain- ing helpful information for letter carriers. As you can see, there are many documents that cover all aspects of your job. This guide is intended to make it easy for you to find information on common topics. Be sure to visit nalc.org regularly for updated editions of the NALC Letter Carrier Resource Guide. Congratulations on your appointment as a letter carrier. We trust you will find this information useful. Sincerely and fraternally, Fredric V. Rolando Christopher Jackson NALC President Director of City Delivery Table of Contents About Your New Job and NALC Parcel Delivery and Mobile Delivery Device ................. 104 What to Expect from Your New Job ................................. 1 PS Form 3999 .............................................................. 105 The People of the United States Postal Service .............. 2 PS Form 3971 .............................................................. 107 NALC History .................................................................... 5 Evolution of the Non-Career Workforce ........................... 7 Additional Rights and Benefits How the Union Works ....................................................... 8 for Career Letter Carriers NALC Structure ................................................................ 9 Conversion to Career ................................................... 110 Opportunities to Get Involved in NALC .......................... 11 Career Pay and Premiums ............................................ 112 Letter Carriers and The Hatch Act.................................. 13 Overtime Provisions ..................................................... 116 Informational Resources ................................................ 15 Maximum Work Hours .................................................. 119 Health Benefits – FEHBP .............................................. 120 CCA Rights and Benefits Dental and Vision – FEDVIP ......................................... 121 Union Representation ..................................................... 19 Long Term Care – FLTCIP ............................................ 122 Grievance-Arbitration Procedure .................................... 21 Flexible Spending Accounts – FSA .............................. 123 Discipline and Weingarten Rights ................................... 23 Life Insurance – FEGLI ................................................. 124 Investigatory Interviews – Rights and Warnings............. 27 Retirement – FERS ....................................................... 126 Pay and Overtime ........................................................... 29 Retirement Credit – Military Buy Back ......................... 127 Reading Your Pay Stub and ePayroll.............................. 33 Probationary Periods .................................................... 129 Health Benefits ............................................................... 36 Seniority ....................................................................... 130 Life Insurance ................................................................. 39 Layoff Protection .......................................................... 132 Retirement Savings Plan ................................................ 40 Leave - Career Employees ........................................... 133 Hours of Work ................................................................ 41 Holidays ........................................................................ 145 Lunch and Breaks .......................................................... 43 Bidding on Vacant Duty Assignments .......................... 147 Safety and Health ........................................................... 46 Commuter Benefit Program ......................................... 148 Injury Compensation ...................................................... 48 Reasonable Accommodation ......................................... 50 Appendix Employee Assistance Program ...................................... 53 2016 USPS/NALC National Agreement Appendix B .... 150 Leave .............................................................................. 54 2016 USPS/NALC National Agreement Joint Questions Holidays .......................................................................... 62 and Answers (M-01870) ............................................... 156 Relative Standing ........................................................... 63 MOU Re: Full-time Regular Opportunities .................... 172 Opting and Hold-Downs ................................................ 67 City Carrier Assistants – Annual Uniform Allowance Uniforms ......................................................................... 70 (M-01822) ..................................................................... 174 Working in Another Installation ....................................... 73 Handbook M-41, Section 28: Carrier – Auxiliary Use of Privately Owned Vehicles .................................... 75 Control ......................................................................... 183 NALC Resources List .................................................. 185 On-The-Job Sanctity of the Mail ......................................................... 77 Security Check – Fingerprinting ..................................... 78 Following the Instructions of Your Manager ................... 79 Personal Conduct and Social Media .............................. 81 Sunday Parcel Delivery and Other Services ................... 83 Customer Connect Program .......................................... 84 DOIS Projections, PS Form 3996 and PS Form 1571 .... 85 Work Methods ................................................................ 96 About Your New Job and NALC What to Expect from Your New Job As you begin your career as a letter carrier, you likely have many questions and aren’t sure what to expect in About Your New Job your new job. If you are like most letter carriers when they first started, you probably also feel excited, ner- vous, and unsure in anticipation of your first day. These are all very normal emotions and most who came before you felt the very same way. The job of a letter carrier can be very difficult, both physically and emotionally. The job can be physically and NALC challenging as it often requires extensive walking, climbing stairs, and carrying heavy loads while delivering the mail. The job can be an emotional challenge as well, because letter carriers are constantly faced with time constraints and expectations from their supervisors to complete their daily workload in a timely manner. As a city carrier assistant, you will be required to deliver mail on all or part of different