News & information
A national class-action grievance (Q16N-4Q-C 17638188) was originally scheduled to be heard January 30, 2018. Unfortunately, this hearing was unexpectedly canceled by the arbitrator. NALC has received proposed dates for rescheduling and we expect to have a firm date shortly.
This case involves the Postal Service’s revisions to the Employee Labor Relation (ELM) Manual Section 422.2. The revision eliminated the requirement that two times the most prevalent step be added to a Table 2 Grade 1 letter carrier’s salary when promoted to a Grade 2 assignment. If this pay rate fell between two steps, the letter carrier would then receive the higher step. This calculation resulted in Table 2 Grade 1 letter carriers receiving a two-step increase when assigned to a Grade 2 assignment.
Additionally, USPS notified NALC that it would be holding employees who previously received the two-step promotion pay increase in place in their current step for an additional 92 weeks less any time served since their last step increase.
The ELM revision and the “hold in place” were effective Oct. 14, 2017. NALC initiated a national-level grievance challenging both.
The two-step promotion pay was a result of the Das interest arbitration award which created Table 2 in the city letter carrier rate schedule (Q). The steps in Table 2 are equal amounts, each being 2.75% of step O. When the ELM rule for promotions within the city letter carrier schedule were properly applied to letter carriers in Table 2 moving from Grade 1 to Grade 2, it created this unforeseen result. The same rule when applied to a letter carrier in Table 1 results in the promoted letter carrier remaining in the same lettered step in Grade 2.
Promotion pay within the city letter carrier rate schedule will no longer exist after November 24, 2018 when the provisions of the MOU Re: Pay Schedule Consolidation take effect. Under this MOU, all Grade 1 letter carriers will slot into the equivalent step in Grade 2 of their respective pay schedule. The new grade will be called “City Carrier” and “City Carrier Assistant.” Career and CCA letter carriers who are assigned to Carrier Technician positions will receive additional compensation equivalent to 2.1% of the employee’s applicable hourly rate for all paid hours.
The referenced ELM revisions do not change the rules when promoted to a different rate schedule, nor do they change the rules concerning reductions in grade or re-promotions.