THE BULLETIN BOARD
April 2009
[April 7th]Organizational Changes and VERA Timelines Updated
USPS has released an updated timetable for employees affected by the recently announced staffing reductions and district closings and for those who are considering the Postal Service's voluntary early retirement (VER) offer.
The Postal Service has begun mailing notification to all VER-eligible employees. You should note that the VER application deadline and irrevocability date stated in the VER Offer packets have been changed. The new date is June 19. Correction letters will be mailed this week to all VER-eligible employees who received an annuity estimate and VER Offer packet.
The VER timeline is available on LiteBlue. Affected employees can use this information to help them through the process.
[April 2nd]House Affirms Support for FERS Sick-Leave Credit
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #039-09
For the second day in a row, the House of Representatives approved legislation that would provide sick-leave credit to employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
The "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" (H.R. 1256), introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), incorporates the provisions of H.R. 1804, which was adopted on April 1. The new bill also would provide the Food and Drug Administration with greater authority to regulate tobacco products. It passed 298-112, with 21 members not voting.
- Give credit for unused sick leave to FERS employees;
- Provide automatic enrollment for new employees in the Thrift Savings Plan;
- Establish a "qualified" Roth contribution program, and
- Permit separated former employees to redeposit retirement contributions they withdrew in order to qualify for past service credit.
For more information, see the article House Approves Bill to Give Sick-Leave Credit to FERS Employees.
[April 1st]Judge: Unions' Privacy Lawsuit May Proceed
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #035-09
Postal workers won an important legal victory March 30, when a district court judge upheld the right of the APWU and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to pursue a lawsuit against the Postal Service and the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for "widespread and systematic intrusions" into the medical records of their members.
The APWU-NALC complaint, filed Jan. 17, 2008, asserts that since 2006 the OIG has been surreptitiously seeking and obtaining the medical records of postal workers directly from doctors and hospitals that have provided medical services to postal employees. The suit alleges that the OIG has instructed medical providers that they must submit records to the OIG and that they should refrain from notifying affected employees that the records have been requested.
APWU President William Burrus praised the judge's decision. '"I am pleased that the APWU – together with the NALC – will be able to continue our efforts to protect the privacy of our members. This is only the first round of what may be a long fight, but Judge Chin's decision is very encouraging."
Read the entire article for futher details.
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