Q10C-4Q-C 10670819 Global Settlement Remedy Overpayment Award 3-14-2025
From: Charlie Cash
Industrial Relations Director
Date: March 14, 2025
Re: Arbitrator’s Award in Case Q10C-4Q-C 10670819Global Settlement Remedy Agreement Overpayments
Arbitrator Daniel Brent ruled on the Global Settlement Remedy Agreement (GSRA) Overpayments case. The case surrounded the money to be paid to affected employees in a settlement dated December 5, 2014. The Postal Service agreed to pay Clerk Craft employees $56,000,000 as part of the settlement addressing Article 1.6.b grievances where postmasters and supervisors were performing more bargaining unit work than the fifteen hours allowed under the Global Settlement incorporated into the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The APWU painstakingly identified the employees who were to be paid, how much they were to be paid, and then provided the list to the Postal Service.
When the payments occurred starting in January 2016, approximately 1,400 employees were overpaid. The Postal Service soon began issuing Letters of Demand to recover the overpayments. Local grievances and a national dispute were filed over these Letters of Demand to recover the overpayments.
Arbitrator Brent recognized that the letters of demand were defective, and that the Postal Service did not stay collection efforts even after the national dispute was filed. Arbitrator Brent writes, “The Employer’s Demand Letters did not accurately describe the full range of options to submit repayment or protest repayment that were available to the employees under the Employee and Labor Relations Manual and the contract grievance procedure. Consequently, these letters cannot be construed as valid compliance with applicable governing provisions of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement or the Joint Contract Interpretation Manual.” 1
Regarding the collection efforts Arbitrator Brent states “Moreover, the collection efforts were not stayed after the instant grievance was filed, as explicitly required by Article 28, Section 4(A) of the collective bargaining agreement….”2
Recognizing the letters of demand to be defective, the Postal Service did not stop their collection efforts, and that the employees’ rights to due process were violated, just prior to laying out the remedy he writes, “Although all payees were entitled to their Global Settlement payments and to contractual due process, they were not necessarily entitled to keep the full amount of the overpayments they received. Therefore, granting waivers for all overpayments is not justified.”3
Beginning on page 34 of the award, Arbitrator Brent outlines the remedy. He ordered that the Postal Service issue a “written explanatory statement” to all current employees, retirees, and former employees whom the Postal Service took collection action against. The APWU will have the opportunity to review and provide input on the notification prior to it being sent out. The notice is to include an explanation of the cause of overpayment, the original amount the employee was entitled to receive under the GSRA, the amount the employee was overpaid, and any remaining balance owed by the employee.
Arbitrator Brent further ordered the repayment of any surcharges, penalties, interest, and fees any employee, retiree, or former employee paid to a collection entity beyond the amount owed will be forgiven and shall be repaid by the Postal Service. Additionally, the Postal Service must contact the collection entities to take “…whatever action is necessary to cause such agencies or entities to purge from their records any adverse information concerning any payee against whom the Employer previously initiated any debt collection action to recoup any Global Settlement overpayment.” Regarding the overpayment debts, Arbitrator Brent ordered two different remedies. For retirees and former employees he writes, “Amounts overpaid to retirees and former employees are hereby waived.”4 For current employees, he ordered “…the Employer may commence recoupment of such overpayments by deducting not more than $20 per week from the gross amount that is earned each pay period until (1) the debt is paid in full if the overpayment was less than $800 or (2) if the overpayment was $800 or more until fifty-percent of the overpayment has been recovered, with a minimum recovery of $800.”5
The award provides strong language on what must be included in a letter of demand, that collection efforts must be stayed when a grievance is filed on a letter of demand, and employees must be given their full gamut of repayment and appeal rights in a letter of demand.
Charlie Cash
Industrial Relations Director
—-
1 Award at p. 17
2 Award at p.15
3 Award at p. 33
4 Award at p. 35
5 Award at p. 36
Q10C-4Q-C 10670819 Global Settlement Remedy Overpayment Award 3-14-2025Friday, March 14, 2025DanielBrentNo Arbitration Decision
, 1.6 Global Settlement Remedy Agreement
1.6b
https://d1ocufyfjsc14h.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/q10c-4q-c_10670819_global_settlement_remedy_overpayment_award_3-14-2025.pdf
Craft:
Clerk
Document Type:
Memorandum0
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March 14, 2025By this time, most eligible recipients of the Maintenance Craft Part-Time Regular (PTR) settlement distribution have received their first payments, totaling over $10 million.
Arbitration Awards & SettlementsMaintenance Division
By this time, most eligible recipients of the Maintenance Craft Part-Time Regular (PTR) settlement distribution have received their first payments, totaling over $10 million. However, some Employee Identification Numbers (EINs) were rejected because they were unable to match them to Social Security numbers. Therefore, the payments for about 600 PTRs workers bounced back. A common issue we noticed from the workers whose EINs were rejected is that they have either multiple names on file, have changed their last name, or are no longer a postal employee. The Postal Service is currently working on a resolution.
In addition, the Maintenance Division is working to identify approximately 50 conversions to full-time positions per the PTR agreement. The goal is to find PTRs who are already working at least 25-30 hours per week, and all PTRs who can pick up additional hours doing other duties, like lock changes.
We have received inquiries about the second and final distribution. We are not releasing the second round of payments until all the first round has been completed. We anticipate that the second payment distribution will take place around June 2025 and the payments will range from $100 to $400.
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AFL-CIO Rolls Out Week of Mass Action vs. Trump’s War on Workers: “Taking the fight against the GOP Trump regime’s war on workers from Congress and the courts but also to the streets, the AFL-CIO’s new Department of People Who Work for a Living—a title satirizing Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency—plans a week of actions nationwide from March 17 to 23, 2025. The events will include town halls; mass mobilization to descend on congressional offices (especially those of its ruling Republicans); a ‘democracy board,’ where people can share stories of the personal impact of the Musk-Trump carnage; and flooding Capitol Hill with calls and e-mails.”Trump Administration Must Rehire Thousands of Fired Workers, Judge Rules: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump’s government-gutting initiative. Ruling from the bench, Judge William J. 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Fri, 03/14/2025 – 10:43
Women’s History Month Profiles: Christina McCafferty
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For Women’s History Month, we’re taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women’s history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today’s profile is Christina McCafferty of the Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Christina McCafferty is an exemplary model of service through her work as a supervisor, steward, elected treasurer in the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus Chapter 640 and elected officer of IBEW Local 640.
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Tags:
Women’s History Month