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PRESIDENTS
NEWSLETTER February 9, 2009

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VETERANS

DO NOT SIGN PS FORM 2488
...EVER!

When an employee is injured
at work, many forms will be placed in front of the
employee to sign. Most will be the standard forms. One
will be slipped in and it is PS Form 2488.

This an authorization for medical
report. Under no circumstances should this form be
signed. It gives postal management the authority to dig
into all your medical records from birth until today.

Most of this medical information
postal management has no business knowing. If management
says an employee needs to sign this form in order to
process their claim easier, this is totally false. This
is your private record and management has no right to do
it. DO NOT ALLOW THEM THIS ACCESS.

If a compensation claim ensues from
an injury, the inspection service would use this to pry
into your private life in order to find something to get
you, the employee.

Remember, DO NOT SIGN PS FORM 2488.
An employee has a perfect right not to sign this form.

As a reminder, it is always best for
an employee to read any form placed in front of them by
management.

If an employee has a concern, ask for
a union steward to be present to answer your questions.

Injured
Employee Information

Another link to
information

National Reassessment
process

As many of you are aware, the Postal
Service has initiated a program called the National
Reassessment Process and we have completed phase one of
that process. During phase one many of you received
letters asking you to update your medical. Hopefully if
you did receive a letter you did update your medical.
This is important because the Injury Compensation office
information is not always accurate and that medical
documentation will be used in phase two of the
process.

Last week you attended a meeting
concerning phase two which will take 3 to 5 months to
complete. In the first step of phase two management has
identified employees in our local that are on limited
duty with permanent medical restrictions that will go
through this process. Management has listed these
employees's as either reaching maximum medical
improvement (MMI) within 1 year or reaching MMI after 1
year.

The second step in the reassessment
process is that management in every installation is
required to identify all necessary work that is not in a
bid position that could be performed by limited duty
employees. Management will identify duties on a 540 work
sheet and that work could already be in existing limited
or light duty assignments. One of the major problems
with the reassessment process is that for years the
Postal Service has taken the position that they have
been required to find medically suitable work for anyone
hurt on the job. In national arbitration the Postal
Service claimed they create limited duty jobs only
because they have a legal obligation to do so and once
those limited duty positions are vacated the jobs go
away. Now the Postal Service has flip flopped on its
position claiming limited duty assignments must be
"necessary/productive work", instead of medically
suitable work with no more make work assignments. This
issue of necessary / productive work verses medically
suitable work is currently at step 4 of the grievance
procedure and we will provide updates on its progress
when we receive it and file individual grievances
locally as well.

Once all necessary or productive limited
/ light duty work has been identified in the facility
management intends on assigning permanent medically
restricted employee's to those positions based upon
their medical restrictions. A senior manager in the
facility will look at the worksheet and state if there
is a job available for you or not. If a job is available
for you, an interview will be set up and you to be
offered your new limited duty job. It's important that
you request union representation through out this
interview process. During this interview is the time to
bring up any additional medical documentation you may
have, or any information that may help find a job for
you. Management has stated the pecking order for placing
employees in limited duty assignments is as follows:
Those employees who have reached MMI before 1 year will
be placed into positions. Those employees's who have
reached MMI after 1 year will be placed into
positions.

Management also stated that all
employees who currently have limited duty / rehab
assignments, those assignments will be withdrawn and
these employees will be assigned using the pecking order
above either MMI before or after one year. Management
also intends on re-assigning employees without any
consideration for seniority or what job you are
currently doing. Management claims that they have been
making assignments wrong for years and are going to
start fresh and make assignments correctly. The union
does not agree with management and we will not stand by
and let management violate any of your rights as an
injured worker. Many of you already have assignments
that went through OWCP and I can't see how management
can withdraw those job offers.

The Postal Service is ignoring seniority
rights when placing employees into limited duty
assignments. It's possible for you to have 30 years
service and someone else has 5 years service, but the
Postal Service gives the employee with less seniority a
preferred assignment. Seniority is the backbone of
collective bargaining and the Service has always used
employees' seniority dates whenever placing anyone in a
job. This issue is also at step 4 of the grievance
procedure and grievances will be also filed
locally.

Management claims they will assign
employees to limited duty assignments using the
following criteria within your medical restrictions: (1)
Work within the employee's craft, in the work facility
to which the employee is regularly assigned, and during
the hours when the employee regularly works. (2) If
adequate duties are not available within the employee's
work limitations in the craft, work facility and within
the employee's regular hours of duty, other work may be
assigned within that facility. (3) If work is not
available at the facility within the employee's regular
hours of duty, work outside the employee's regular
schedule may be assigned as limited duty. However, all
reasonable efforts must be made to assign the employee
to limited duty within the employee's craft. (4) An
employee may be assigned limited duty outside of the
work facility to which the employee is normally assigned
only if there is not adequate work available within the
employee's work limitation tolerances at the employee's
facility. In such instances, every effort must be made
to assign the employee to work within the employee's
craft within the employee's regular schedule and as near
as possible to the regular work facility to which the
employee is normally assigned. During this process it is
possible that employee's may go into other crafts with
form 50's being cut right away and this obviously may
affect your pay and seniority issues. Employees may also
be re-assigned up to 50 miles away in another facility
and management claims that they will notify the unions
of anyone changing crafts. This issue is also at step 4
in the grievance process because management has limited
their search for work to a 50-mile radius within the
district and not searched nation wide for work. Through
out this reassessment process across the country
management has been able to find work for the majority
of its permanent injured employees, however if your
restrictions are so severe work is not available then a
second set of interviews will be scheduled.

You will be given a two-week notice of
the interview and if after the second interview, the
Postal Service cannot find you work, you will be given a
CA-2A and a CA-7, which you should fill out immediately.
Someone will then take your badge and have you clean out
your locker. Yes, that is how your Postal Service will
treat you that day. It doesn't matter how good an
employee you are or how long you have been there. The
fact is the Postal Service is trying to end your career
and could care less, so make sure you have union
representation! The CA-2A and CA-7 will go to the
Department of Labor and hopefully, will be approved in a
timely manner. Honestly you may be without a check for
weeks or your claim may not even be approved at all. The
problem is some employee's have been off OWCP rolls for
so long in productive positions, OWCP does not
understand how you got a reoccurrence of your injury. So
if you have annual leave or sick leave you may want to
use it. Management's flippant attitude is you are now
OWCP's problem and not theirs.

Once the Postal Service puts you out,
the Department of Labor will then place you in a
Vocational Rehab Program. This is a program designed to
try to find you work in the outside sector within your
restrictions. The Department of Labor will try to
identify two jobs within 90 days in the outside sector
that you will have to apply for employment. The
Department of Labor will look at your skill level,
educational background, and restrictions, while looking
for employment for you. If and when the Department of
Labor does identify a job for you must schedule an
interview with that employer. If you fail to do this
your compensation can be reduced or possible terminated.
I wish I could tell you everything will work out, but I
can't. The Postal Service is doing their best to get rid
of as many limited duty employees as possible. This is
going to be a very stressful time for anyone involved in
this process. The Union will file grievance after
grievance to protect your rights and a steward or
officer will be at every interview to help you with your
decisions and mostly to protect your rights. If you do
receive an interview letter - - please call your union
office immediately.

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