U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler on January 22 issued an injunction, sought by the AFL-CIO with the support of the NALC, delaying implementation of the new reporting requirements. Although the Judge had initially granted a one-year postponement to January 1, 2005, this relief has been modified at the Department of Labor's request. The most recent decision provides for an implementation date of "July 1, 2004, or ninety days after the Department makes its electronic reporting software available, whichever is later."

The Court decision means that branches with fiscal years beginning between January 1 and June 30, 2004, will have the benefit of a one-year delay in complying with the new regulation, Broendel said. Such Branches would not be required to file under the new LM 2 regulations until 2006, for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2005. If there is a delay in the availability of the new software, Branches with fiscal years beginning on or after July 1 also may gain additional time to prepare for filing under the new reporting requirements.

Broendel said branches whose annual gross receipts are likely to hit the new $250,000 threshold for filing an LM-2 report should work with their accountants and other professionals to modify the branch accounting procedures and computer software.

In addition, these branches should log on to the Department of Labor's website - www.dol.gov - where there is a link to a PowerPoint presentation on the new LM-2, a presentation that replaces the Labor Department's compliance assistance sessions which unfortunately are no longer being offered.

Unfortunately, the delay in the implementation date was the only relief granted by the Court. The AFL-CIO's underlying lawsuit, attacking the Labor Department's regulations as "arbitrary and capricious," was dismissed.

Although the AFL-CIO has the right to appeal Judge Kessler's decision, it would be irresponsible for any branch to assume the Federation's position will triumph, Broendel stated. She said that for the time being, branches must assume that the new requirements will eventually become effective.

NALC will promptly report any further developments in this matter.

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NALC President William H. Young is scheduled to testify twice before congressional committees acting on proposed reforms in postal laws and regulations recommended in the report of the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service.

Young first will appear on February 3 in Washington before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is a leader in the Senate on postal reform issues.

Two days later, Young will travel to Chicago to testify at a field hearing of the Special Postal Reform and Oversight Panel of the House Government Reform Committee. That panel is chaired by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) who has led legislative activity on postal issues in the House of Representatives for several years.

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The 2004 cost-of-living adjustment for letter carriers receiving workers compensation benefits under the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) will be 1.6 percent based on the December Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) announced by the Labor Department January 15. The FECA COLA will be effective on March 1, 2004.

The rate was a drop from the accumulation last month, as inflation continued to decline for a third consecutive month.

(Members may have seen published news accounts showing the CPI increased 0.2 percent in December. Those accounts, however, are based on seasonally adjusted data. The NALC-USPS National Agreement utilizes data that is not seasonally adjusted in determining the COLA. That index declined 0.2 percent from November.)

The FECA COLA was based on the increase in the CPI-W between December 2002 and December 2003. FECA COLAs are applicable only in cases where death or disability occurred more than one year prior to the adjustment's effective date.

The projected accumulation for the third regular cost-of-living adjustment under the 2001-2006 National Agreement declined for the third consecutive month to $57.20 based on the CPI-W for December.

The third COLA will be based on inflation between July 2003 and January 2004 and will be payable in the second full pay period following release in February of the January index. The $57.20 projected increase equals 2.75 cents per hour or $2.20 per pay period.

There is no accumulation toward the 2005 retiree COLA since the CPI-W in December remained below the base value from the third quarter of 2003. The 2005 retiree COLA will be based on the increase in the CPI-W between the third quarter of 2003 and the third quarter of 2004.

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PERF Executive Committee Chairman Drew Von Bergen, NALC's representative on the panel, presides at December 18 meeting of Fund Grantors, including NALC President William Young, center, back to camera; Mail Handler's President John Hegarty, to Young's right; Postmaster General John Potter, next to Von Bergen; and APWU President William Burrus, center, far side.                                                              (USPS Photo)

Postal employees who suffer damage to their homes because of isolated fires are now eligible to receive financial assistance grants from the Postal Employees' Relief Fund.

The Fund's Grantors - the Postmaster General and the heads of the major postal unions and management associations including NALC President William H. Young - approved the amendment to the organization's Trust Document at a meeting December 18. Prior to the action, only those receiving damage from natural disasters were considered eligible for PERF grants.

The action, effective for house fires that occurred on or after December 8, 2003, was proposed by the Fund's Executive Committee.

In addition, on January 22, the Executive Committee took several actions to further enhance assistance to postal victims, also effective for occurrences on or after December 18:

	The threshold of out-of-pocket loss, after insurance and other relief payments, before PERF assistance would be available was lowered from $4,000 to $3,000.
	A minimum value of $200 that was set for a lost or damaged item before it could be included in the damage total that determined eligibility or relief payment level was eliminated.
	The formula for determining relief grants was wholly restructured to increase amounts of assistance at virtually all levels of loss and increasing the maximum assistance amount from $20,000 to $35,000.

The Fund also announced that postal victims of the central California earthquake in December and heavy rains and high winds spawned by Tropical Cyclone Heta that struck the island of Tutuila in American Samoa January 2-6 are eligible for PERF grants after those incidents were declared major natural disasters.

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