The following is a message from a  Cranford, New Jersey NALC  Union Steward:

Postal employees from the Cranford, New Jersey postal facility were told that they would not be paid Administrative Leave for Monday’s (December 27, 2010) snowstorm. The employees were told to use their personal leave to be excused for that day. The decision not to pay postal employees Administrative leave came down from the USPS District Office.

I know most Post Offices in the Union County (New Jersey) area did not get Administrative Leave. But I believe it goes as far as Monmouth County to Bergen County (New Jersey). I am not sure about post offices in New York. We were never given a copy of our PS Form 3971’s approving or denying our request for Adminstrative Leave as required by the ELM. The employees found out we were not getting paid after looking at our paystubs online.

As for how many employees, I know it’s in the thousands as all crafts were denied this leave. This did come down from the USPS District Office because I received a copy of a letter sent out to all Postal Managers.

The bottom line is the mail never reached many post offices until late in the day, so there was no mail to deliver even if you made to the post office.

There is language in the USPS Employee Labor and Relations Manual which covers “Acts of God” which is when a disaster happens in your community and people can not get to work. Also there was a state of emergency declared which is also part of the criteria.

519.21 Acts of God
519.211 General
Acts of God involve community disasters such as fire, flood, or storms. The disaster situation must be general rather than personal in scope and impact. It must prevent groups of employees from working or reporting to work.

519.212 Authorizing Administrative Leave for Acts of God

The following provisions concern administrative leave for acts of God:

a. Postmasters and other installation heads have authority to approve administrative leave for up to 1 day.

b. District managers and Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) plant managers may authorize administrative leave beyond 1 day, but not to exceed a total of 3 days, for their installation and those reporting to it.

c. District managers and senior or lead plant managers may approve administrative leave for periods up to and in excess of 3 days for their installation and those reporting to it.

519.213 Determining the Cause of Absence

Postmasters and other appropriate postal officials determine whether absences from duty allegedly due to “acts of God” were, in fact, due to such cause or whether the employee or employees in question could, with reasonable diligence, have reported for duty.

The mail couldn’t get to the post office because all of the snow. The Postal Service is always preaching safety for employees, but yet they wanted us to risk our safety . I guess they wanted us to report to work just for employees to sit around.
 
Dave Brinkerhoff
Shop Steward
NALC Branch 754
Cranford, NJ