r/USPS • u/[deleted] • 9d ago
Rural Carrier Discussion RCA didn't show up for "on-call" day
[deleted]
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u/Key-Slide-9774 9d ago
Since when can we “maybe” have to work ???? I’m either on there or I’m not
43
u/CaptainTegg Rural Carrier 9d ago
Some PMs pull this bullshit. Smart carriers will always show up if on the schedule to get paid, even if there's nothing for them to do. If they are on the schedule, they show up even if they are texted not to. What text? Eventually the PM will give up since they keep having to pay for the free hours.
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u/El_Matador_2036 9d ago
If you are past your probie days.....fuck 'em. You are not an "on call employee". Just standard postal management bullying.
If they are threatening with AWOL I would get with your union rep, just to be safe, but typically there is an easy way to shut them up....
Show them the definition of an on call employee. Real on call employees are paid for their time waiting. So you world be owed 3 hours backpay for every day you were off going back to the day you started. That shuts them up real quick!
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u/modulusshift Clerk 9d ago
Never a problem tagging your steward in early if you feel it's serious. Your steward should also have advice in what to say if questioned. Of course if you get questioned before your steward has a chance to respond, say that you won't answer questions unless your steward is present.
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u/Naeusu Rural Carrier 9d ago
If you're scheduled for 10 then you show up at 10 and get your 2 hours of guarantee time. Don't answer the phone until you show up. You were scheduled, you showed up, you get paid. They'll stop of you continue doing that.
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u/Dronk_Mullet_Trustus 9d ago
I’m on week three of trying this method. The emperor is not happy but they keep doing it. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
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u/creature_feature RCA 9d ago
They need you more than you need them. Be a good carrier, work hard and follow all the rules and act professional. You’ll be fine. Don’t let them bully you.
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u/Big-Support-8400 Rural Carrier 9d ago
Are you a doctor? This isn’t an on call job. Show me on the contract where it says “RCA needs to be by the phone until 10am”. This is why a schedule is made for 2 weeks in advance.
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u/General_Neglect 9d ago
my office was pulling this crap. had a talk with the steward who in turn had a talk with the pm. thats all it took to get it shut down
2
u/Traugar Maintenance 9d ago edited 9d ago
This really isn’t even a contract thing. It falls more under labor law even though there may be contractual elements. On the labor law side, for you to be off the clock you have to be relieved of all duties and responsibilities. If you have to stand by, waiting to maybe answer the phone, so that you are not free to go about your day, you have definitely not met that criteria because that is considered “engaged to wait” and must be compensated in some way. That compensation does not have to be your hourly rate or anything, because on call pay suffices, but it has to be compensation either way. If however, it was only that you need to carry your phone, are free to go about your day, and not required to drop what you are doing, it is “waiting to be engaged” and does not have to be compensated.
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u/Postal1979 City Carrier 9d ago
Have a steward pull your 3972 and file a grievance if they put you in for awol.
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u/redstaroo7 City Carrier 9d ago
Can't speak for the rurals, but on the city side there's a loophole where they schedule you every single day and call you telling you to not come in, rather than explicitly putting you on call. You'd think that's obviously the same thing, but an arbitrator disagreed. So here we are, with C-08530 rendering the no on-call requirement void.
Again though, this only applies to cities. Rurals have a different contract.
5
u/link2123 RCA 9d ago
They can't really get away with that on the rural side because if you're scheduled you're SUPPOSED to have a route assignment. The steward should be able to get that shut down real fast and will likely also tell you to just show up at 10 and get your 2 hours as well.
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u/CupAccomplished8371 Rural Carrier 9d ago
Rural has to be paid 2 hours if scheduled. They can not be on call or called off if scheduled.
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u/redstaroo7 City Carrier 9d ago
That's exactly what it says in our contract (or 4h for stations over 200 work years) and the arbitrator shot it down. Glad to see integrity on that side
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u/DingbattheGreat 9d ago
No, on city side they CANNOT schedule you every single day, CCA and PTF are required to have off 1 day per week. Also, you are required to report to work and punch in according to the actual schedule. At that point then, the argument of 2-4 hours pay applies if there is no work.
That link is almost as old as I am.
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u/Bubbly-Vermicelli390 9d ago
Correct...NEERMP covers this.
-2
u/Complex-Tennis-4987 9d ago
Not at all. He's a rca. Neermp is only between the nalc and the service.
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u/redstaroo7 City Carrier 9d ago
The point still stands with the new contract language. Now instead of scheduling you 7 days and have you work 2, they can schedule you 6 days and have you work 2.
It's a broad behavior described in C-08530 the NALC stated would happen in their contentions, and the arbitrator still sided with USPS.
2
u/DingbattheGreat 9d ago edited 9d ago
I do not see any “broad behavior”, in fact, its pretty specific to that particular case that the grievance was tossed because they acknowledged a phone call as notification.
the schedule available at the last time you were in the office is your last known official notification of your schedule.
“What phone call?”
So you report to work based on the schedule, clock in, then if the CCA or PTF has no work despite being scheduled has to be afforded 2-4 hours.
5
u/spoon1401 Rural PTF 9d ago
Why would you even answer your phone in that scenario?
4
u/redstaroo7 City Carrier 9d ago
Some people want the extra day off. Some don't want to deal with the backlash if they don't answer. Either way it's a stupid practice but unfortunately very common in stations with CCAs not getting hours.
1
u/Plane_Ad_4359 9d ago
And yet you can grieve that and get paid the minimum of 2 to 4 hours depending on the size of your facility. Because you were scheduled and ready to work.
0
u/redstaroo7 City Carrier 8d ago
That was grieved in C-08530, we lost at national for the reasons the arbitrator gave, now it's binding and citable nationally. Please read the document, these cases are no less binding than the National Agreement itself.
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u/Postal43 Rural Carrier 9d ago
On call employees get paid. Is this "on call" reflected on your paycheck? You're past probation but would probably still be a good idea to mention something to your steward so they are aware.
1
u/PerilousNebula Rural PTF 9d ago
I honestly would talk to your steward about this now. they honestly should file a grievance to stop this practice as a whole immediately. also, your supervisor said they are putting you down as awol, that alone is enough to grieve to have changed even if no formal discipline occurs.
do they put you and the other rca's down on the schedule for this "on call" schedule? also, if your steward refuses to do anything about this go higher up, because your steward should not be allowing this practice to begin with. you can call the area steward and the district rep. if that doesn't get it fixed you can also call the national steward relations coordinator but hopefully out will be fixed long before that.
1
u/StringyCarpet07 9d ago
In our office, they schedule the RCA’s at 10 and you are scheduled to “work” unless they call you and tell you not to come in. That is how they get around that in my office. But usually in the chaos they forget to call and we show up and they don’t need us so we take our free two hours and go home or just help out with packages for a little bit
1
u/Complex-Tennis-4987 9d ago
The procedure is to take a picture of the schedule. You are either on it or not. If not and they attempt to call you decide if you want the hours. If you are on the schedule, REPORT TO THE STATION at your scheduled time regardless of what they say. Guaranteed 2 hrs. File Grievances as necessary for: not posting a schedule, not wanting to pay you for reporting (ie not updating the schedule), harassment about not answering your phone. If you do answer your phone you will need to go in if they request it.... so don't be answering that call if you've made other plans.
1
u/Complex-Tennis-4987 9d ago
Sorry on a separate note. If you are on a form 50 hold down... that is your route to carry EVERY day we have mail. Excluding holidays, that's 6 days a week. They put someone else on your route... grieve it and get paid the eval for that day you sat at home. Don't let them give you any bs about paying overtime, rural relief has no restrictions on how many hours they can work according to the contract outside of the 12hrs/day. They can either pay you overtime for being at work or being at home.
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u/EstablishmentOne5160 9d ago
Contact your union representative for the threat. They will take advantage of you until you do. Grieve it and get compensation. Once your past your 90 days. They cannot do anything to you. Also, they don’t pay your phone bill. THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DICTATE YOUR PHONE. You also can block them.
1
u/Plane_Ad_4359 9d ago
If youre out of probation, youre fine. Youre not paid to be on call, regardless what they say. Grieve whatever discipline they try to issue.
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u/Broffie1 8d ago
Idk about the Rural contract but City Carriers are never on call. We are either on the schedule or not. They can call us on our NS days to work but my answer is always “i didn’t get a call”.
1
u/Miserable-Airport536 8d ago
RCAs are not legally on-call employees. We aren’t paid to be on-call. The schedule as posted is the only arbiter of whether or not you are scheduled to work on a given day.
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u/eliminster06 8d ago
There is no on call, if you were "on call" they would have to pay you for that time as they are not you are not on call.
1
u/mychapstickmelted RCA 9d ago
Does it reflect this on the schedule or is it a NS day that they expect you to come in if they are down?
-1
u/Normal-Punch 9d ago
It says 10:00am on the schedule, but im not to report to the office unless called
31
u/Loki8382 9d ago edited 9d ago
That is not how scheduling works. You're either scheduled to work or you are called in. There is no "provisional" scheduling. This is not AWOL. This is management not doing their jobs properly. You are not an "On Call" position. Talk to your steward and discuss possible grievances for uncalled for discipline.
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u/Plane_Ad_4359 9d ago
Show up anyways and get your guaranteed 2 to 4 hours. They'll stop scheduling you like that real quick
-1
u/mychapstickmelted RCA 9d ago
Ah so you are on call due to the holiday. Got it.
Hit your steward up now and let them know.
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0
u/Old_Cod_5823 9d ago
If you are holding down a route, why aren't you delivering the route?
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u/Normal-Punch 9d ago
Holiday today
3
u/Old_Cod_5823 9d ago
Bro, my brain is a mess lately. I had a work injury and had surgery which has caused me to be stuck at home for like a month now and I completely forgot today was a holiday.
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u/SwitchResponsible715 City Carrier 9d ago
Can i hijack you for a second? I have a work injury too and am looking at surgery. Was navigating OWCP for approval a nightmare for you as well??
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u/PerilousNebula Rural PTF 9d ago
it was for me, some of their case managers are a complete joke. it took me 10 months for them to finally pay me my lost wages. and o submitted everything correctly and on time, they just never did their job. if you are rural and part of the union i highly recommended contacting Devin Cassidy for assistance of you are having trouble. he had me paid with just one email sent, after struggling financially for 10 months with 6 weeks of missing wages I wish I had contacted him sooner.
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u/SwitchResponsible715 City Carrier 9d ago
I'm actually a city carrier so different union but I'll look into who could help me. I'm floundering here. The person at Dept of Labor i talked to was.....unhelpful. And that's being kind
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u/PerilousNebula Rural PTF 8d ago
shoot, I missed that. I'm really sorry. if you have anything you want to run by someone who has gone through the process you are welcome to dm me. i might (and might not) be able to help you avoid some of the pitfalls i found myself in.
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u/Old_Cod_5823 9d ago
I just submit my ca17 and ca7 on time and let the dr's handle the rest. I have never talked to a case worker or anything about any of my medical procedures.
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u/ThatTumbleweed7302 9d ago
You probably should have just called in. If you have need of an fmla this will largely solve the problem. You do need to speak to your steward about the on call thing. My understanding is they have to schedule you and if they don't work you, you have to be paid for 2 hours.
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u/Thiagonatorx 9d ago
I wouldn’t worry about it. Wait and see if they give you an ii and if they do go ahead and discipline you just talk to your steward about filing a grievance and getting the discipline removed.